A New World, A New Way
by zeusdemigod131
Summary: To protect his Pokemon from harm Arceus has moved most of his worlds pokemon, and most of the "worthy" "humans" to Equestria in hopes that they can live in peace, but peace is often harder to obtain than one might think, especially when the humans, or, former humans as it is, aren't all too happy with what he's done.
1. Pro-prologue

Lord Arceus, creator of the Pokèmon world, stood in his personal dimension watching his world, his pride and joy. To him it had always been one of the greatest accomplishments of the multiverse, and he had seen several. But that was before the humans had forgotten the old myths, before the Dragons, the guardians, had gone soft or feral, before a man named Lawrence of the Kanto region had kick started something terrible.

Arceus looked to the Johto region and saw Suicune, the embodiment of the northern winds, running from a trainer on a Rapidash.

Arceus looked to Snowpoint temple and saw Regigigas, one of his first creations, trapped as a statue, imprisoned by his own son's essences.

Arceus looked to the Unova region and saw Reshiram and Zekrom, the guardians of the region, in the pokèballs of N and Black, separated from each other by miles.

Arceus looked to the Hoenn Region and saw Regirock, Regice, and Registeel still imprisoned to keep them from their father.

Arceus looked once more upon the Unova region and saw Genesect, the newest (but not youngest) legendary hiding from the remainder of Team Plasma who still searched for him.

And a single thought rang in Arceus's head. "_Enough." _The god as old as time itself had lost patience. _"The normal Pokèmon do well enough, but my legendaries have suffered enough." _As of date only Reshiram, Zekrom, and Xerneas had been captured by trainers, the Fairy-Type's capture had been the final straw, but the rest were constantly tormented. This was especially true for the ones who roamed, such as Suicune and Latias, who were still being tracked by those thrice damned Pokètches.

If Arceus had his way then he would have made it clear to all humans that the legendaries were off limits. _"Probably would've destroyed everyone of those damned Pokèballs while I was at it." _He thought as he paced, eyes still glued to the multitude of screens flashing before him. _"Never once did I think the humans would be able to build something like those." _In truth Arceus would have rooted for Team Plasma in the final battle had he not known Ghetsis's plan from the get go.

"_But I can't do anything while I'm stuck here, and thanks to those sages all those years ago..." _Arceus paused as the memory of the ritual that had taken place thousands of years ago came back to him, filling him with rage. _"I STILL CAN'T LEAVE!"_

The screens before him shook and fizzled out temporarily as the Hyper Voice attack took effect before switching back on.

The event in question had taken place before any living human, and most living (and unliving) Pokèmon, had been born. Arceus had discovered that a small city state in the Hoenn region had been treating his Pokèmon not as partners, but as slaves

When the Alpha Pokèmon had discovered this he had freed the Pokèmon and moved them, along with a few good humans, out of the city, before completely obliterating it using Draco Meteor and Hyper Beam (there hadn't always been a desert in the middle of the region).

Most of the sages of his, and of the other legendaries temples had witnessed these events and attempted to reform the humans to treat Pokèmon as equals. But a few rebellious sages had decided that it was time for the god Pokèmon to leave humanity to it's own devices. Hiding their plans and thoughts with dark magic and disguising the ritual as an ordinary honoring of him they used the seventeen plates that linked him to the world to imprison Arceus in his pocket dimension.

Then the temples of Dialga, Palkia and Giratina had done likewise, though their spells tended to wear thin at times, and the Regi's sages as well as Jirachi's had done the same before the other legendaries had gone into hiding.

This had all happened so long ago, and many of the legendaries around today had never even seen Lord Arceus, outside of dreams that is. Arceus could enter the dreams of all beings, even while imprisoned.

The humans had trapped the four most powerful Pokèmon in existence so that they could do whatever they wanted. This had horrified Arceus and the others to no end for centuries, and without him to put the world right even worse events occurred.

First the Dragon Pokemon, the ones Arceus created to guard his Pokèmon, had gone feral or soft.

Hydreigon had gone from the most respected Pokèmon, to the most feared.

Kingdra became odd and moved permanently into the sea along with Dragalge.

Salamence, Garchomp and Druddigon, more often than not, abused their powers on the ones they were meant to guard.

And Goodra... Arceus actually had no idea what had happened to Goodra, it was still pure Dragon and still sought to guard the Pokèmon but it had somehow gone from fearsome to a laughing stock.

There were still a few Dragons that Arceus was proud of though. Aside from Goodra, Dragonite, Flygon and Altaria were still guardians, although they had gone somewhat soft.

Haxorus and Noivern had been the most unchanged across time and with the revival of Tyrantrum there was hope that the first non-legendary Dragon could set things right.

The next event was the creation of the accursed device known as the Pokèball. After making the universe and the creation trio Arceus had set his sights on creating life. He began by forming a single Pokèmon from his own DNA. Mew. And Mew, using her gifts and imagination, had created the Pokèmon. As time wore on Mew birthed more species and others developed naturally, giving rise to most of the species today.

But Mew, sweet, pure, Mew, felt that the world was missing something. A species that, given time, could grow and become something more than even Mew's boundless mind could come up with. And thus she birthed the Human race.

At first Arceus hadn't thought much of this new species, and when he first looked upon them he felt naught but pity. For in making the humans "more" as she put it, Mew had inadvertently removed the ability for them to interact with the forces of nature, but she had given them a mind unlike any other. At the time they were only comparable to Genesect, and that race had gone extinct alongside Tyrantrum and many others after a rather cataclysmic incident involving Kyogre and Groudon.

One thing Arceus did notice about the early humans was how cold and calculating their minds were. Expecting trouble from this he created Uxie, to grant them knowledge, Azelf, to give them Willpower, and Mesprit, to give them emotion.

These served the humans well at first and they did grow, much as Mew predicted. But over time they lost the ability to speak with the other Pokèmon and then began to separate themselves from them entirely. Fast forward several thousand years and they discovered Apricorns.

Arceus had no idea how the nuts had the ability to encapsulate Pokèmon. And Shaymin, the legendary tasked with maintaining the flora of the world, said it had to be something the humans did in their factories.

When Arceus saw the first 'trainer' capture a Pokèmon it is said that his screams of rage could be heard even from within his pocket dimension.

The battling didn't upset him, Pokèmon already did that, and Arceus understood that not all trainers were bad, in fact more than a few were wonderful beings, but just the thought of his Pokèmon forced into mobile cells was too much for the old god to bear.

To right this grievous wrong Arceus, with the help of Mew, created new Pokèmon that he hoped would dethrone humans. But Mew, still believing that the humans would come around, had drastically altered the Clefairy family from Arceus' design. And while the designs for the Beheeyem family had remained unaltered the Psychic-Type's intelligence and love of learning had overwritten the goal Arceus had set and they began to research the world much like the Pokèmon professors.

It took Arceus several decades to figure out how Pokèballs worked, and it truly terrified him.

Originally Arceus had assumed that they worked by honing in on the shared code of all Pokèmon, which was why they couldn't catch humans. What Arceus discovered was that instead of focusing on what _Pokèmon _had the Pokèballs focused on what _humans_ didn't. Meaning that the Pokèballs could be used to capture any creature that wasn't human. Even if they didn't share common DNA.

This discovery had led Arceus to make one last ditch attempt to... remove the humans. This time without Mew's help. Searching several universes for something he could use as a base Arceus discovered a world in which humans had been overthrown, but not completely exterminated, by robotic creatures similar to the Magnemite family. Unfortunately that group, alongside the Metang family, had existed for quite some time and wouldn't be to helpful in Arceus's plan.

So Arceus gathered his energy and created a new family of Pokèmon. The Klink family. Arceus had been so proud, Arceus had intended for this new group of Pokèmon to send the message to the humans that it was time to return to the old ways.

But, as was becoming usual, something had gone wrong. Without Mew to help shape the new species the Klink, Klang, and Klinklang had developed with a mind similar to... anything in the Pokèmon world couldn't compare. They were completely logical thinkers. No emotions whatsoever were found within their minds and they only sought to further their own standing in the world. In hoping to do this they realized that 1.) Attacking humans unprovoked would more than likely lead to their downfall. 2.) They had more to gain by working _with _humans rather than against them. And 3.) Once their goal was complete Arceus was no longer going to have need of them.

Arceus had _begged_ the lake trio, Mesprit especially, to alter their minds but the sisters had grown fond of humans and they were rather against Arceus's plans.

Thus ended Arceus's final attempt at stopping the humans and, in the few centuries since then, he had been angered on more than one occasion by humans meddling in his affairs.

His greatest anger had come in the form of the Porygon, Grimer and Trubbish families. Arceus had never even considered that humans could create their own Pokèmon, even by accident, but they again proved him wrong. While Arceus was mildly accepting of the Porygon family he was originally set on destroying the other two if he ever escaped. That was, until he saw how the humans treated their creations.

Having formed the Poison types from their own pollution the humans had been initially more horrified than Arceus at the new beings. This had set about a campaign to gather as many Grimer, Trubbish, Muk and Garbodor as possible and eradicate them.

Seeing the humans cruelty towards their own creations Arceus had frowned and said. _"Just when I thought they couldn't get any worse." _Arceus had then named both families, along with the Porygon family, Pokèmon in full and ordered the sacred swordsmen to escort the remaining Pokèmon to safety. After several years the humans also accepted the new Pokèmon and stopped the campaign.

However not all of the humans meddling in creation affairs were unwelcomed. When the first Aerodactyl was revived from a sample of DNA encased within ancient amber Arceus had been elated that his first creations could be revived, and soon Kabuto, Lileep, Carracosta and even Tyrantrum joined their modern day relatives... and Relicanth.

Two instances of genetic meddling had even resulted in new legendary Pokèmon being appointed. Mewtwo, after learning to control his powers and temper, had been inducted when Mew had asked Arceus to do so, claiming that he could help set the world on the right path. Seeing as how most Pokèdex entries claimed that the actually rather level headed psychic was the most savage Pokèmon in existence this plan didn't get very far.

And when Team Plasma revived and upgraded a the last member of the Genesect race Arceus had sent the Eon Duo to rescue the ancient bug and reintroduce him to the new world. While the ancient Genesect had been rather cold and calculating the revived specimen had been given a more advanced brain and was quite possibly the smartest legendary after Uxie. Not the wisest mind you, only the smartest. And after his training was complete Genesect had been inducted into the legendaries.

The last reason that Arceus was upset with the humans over was more of pet peeve rather than an enraging incident. At the time when Arceus was banished many humans, both male and female, shared happy lives with their Pokèmon partners, and that's partners in the. "Do you take this Gallade to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Sorta way. Arceus actually had no problems with this. He understood that love was love and that he couldn't mess with on the other hand, could, but she wasn't around yet.

What upset Arceus was that when humans reached a certain point of separation they decided that being in a romantic relationship with a Pokèmon was "unbecoming" which later changed to "disgusting" and eventually became "perverted".

When the law banning Pokèphilia was first passed it was seen as more of a suggestion, then it became extremely serious. Human trainers who fell in love with their partners were arrested and jailed for decades at a time, even if the Pokèmon could argue that it gave its consent.

This just sorta miffed most of the legendaries but one was extremely upset by the entire ordeal. Cresselia, the legendary with the greatest dealings in love immediately complained to Arceus about it and asked if there was anything he could do... actually she had been enraged that some humans were breaking up what could be true love and she had been screaming at him to fix it.

Being trapped in a pocket dimension meant that Arceus could do no such thing and all of Cresselia's attempts ended rather poorly.

The problem was that Arceus did not want to eradicate the humans, many of them were wonderful people, he just wanted his Pokèmon to live at peace... and for evil groups to stop trying to use the legendaries for evil every two decades or so.

He knew from experience that blaming the many for what the few have done only ends in pain and suffering on all sides. What Arceus truly hoped for was that one day he would be freed and that he could find a way for _all _humans and _all _Pokèmon to live together in harmony.

A man named Giovanni had pretty much smashed that hope several decades prior, and with humans becoming resourceful enough to capture some of the most powerful legendaries the only hope he had was that _he _would be able to set things right.

But for that to happen he would first have to escape, a goal nearly impossible without help from a human. This, in fact, was exactly what Arceus was contemplating as he watched over his world.

"_That Iris girl would be a good choice, if she can get a Haxorus, a Hydreigon and a Druddigon to trust her then perhaps she'd be willing to help me escape."_

Arceus had tried to convince humans to free him in the past but most had given up or decided that his contact with them had just been a dream.

"_Cynthia might also be a good choice and, while I don't like him very much, N would doubtlessly come to the rescue of a Pokèmon in need."_

For Arceus to be freed a human would have to gather all seventeen elemental plates, which had been scattered around the world, and undo the ritual in the place that it had first been enacted. Spear Pillar.

Arceus himself could no long view spear pillar or his plates, a byproduct of his imprisonment, and therefore had no idea what dangers awaited the heros he chose to go after the objects he required.

Arceus shook his head. _"It would be all to easy for-" _What happened next utterly shocked Arceus. He felt his prison come undone.

"_Impossible." _He whispered in disbelief, but contrary to his belief, the "door" of his pocket dimension slowly ground open.

"_Impossible." _He whispered again as he stepped through the door and came out on spear pillar. The god looked around in disbelief, seeing the world through his own eyes for the first time in millennia.

He was so taken back by his sudden freedom that he almost didn't notice the human standing on the shattered marble floor. Arceus only really took notice of him when the human yelled. "Blaziken, use Sky Uppercut!" But even after several thousand years Arceus' battle instincts never dulled. He used his connection to the elemental plated and pulled the Spooky Plate towards him, activating it a moment before the attack hit and rendering it useless.

The trainer looked on in shock as his Blaziken passed directly through the legendary Pokèmon. The Blaziken landed effortlessly behind the Alpha Pokèmon and looked back at his trainer. "Blaze?" He asked, worrying that they had bitten off more than they could chew.

The trainer, however, regained his composure and said. "No matter. I'll just have to change strategies. Use Overheat." Blaziken responded by focusing his inner flame to maximum power, then releasing it outwards and towards Arceus.

"_Typical Fire-Type move." _Arceus said as he switched to the Splash Plate to lessen the damage. _"Hit it with everything you have and hope it passes out."_

At this point Blaziken was seriously doubting that he could beat the legendary who had yet to attack a single time. The trainer still wouldn't believe that he could be beat, he had traveled the world and visited every region. He had some of the most powerful non-legendary Pokèmon on his belt. _"I'll just use another one." _He thought.

"Blaziken return." He held out the Pokèball and Blaziken disappeared in a flash of red light. He pulled another Pokèball from his belt and threw it. Calling out. "Dusknoir, I chose you!"

The Ghost-Type appeared in a flash of white light, prepared to take on the challenge, until he saw _who _he had been set against. "Noir.." He whispered nervously preparing for battle.

Arceus, however, was not in the mood for such a trivial matter. _"Enough." _He said, focusing his power and returning the Dusknoir to its Pokèball.

The trainers eyes widened and he stammered. "H-h-how?"

Arceus flew towards the trainer and only stopped when he was face to muzzle with him and could see the fear in his eyes. _"I created this world from nothingness, I am the archetype from which all Pokèmon are formed, I am directly responsible for the creation of the most powerful beings in the universe and I control all of space and time. If I couldn't manipulate your technology then I would be a sad god indeed."_

He backed away from the trainer, who was still attempting to keep a calm demeanor, and continued. _"Now normally for attacking a God I would trap you in the distortion world and leave you there."_

At this the trainer lost his calm demeanor and started to show fear. _"But..." _Arceus continued. _"Since you did free me I suppose I can let you off with a warning."_ Not wanting to deal with the trainer any further Arceus said. _"Be gone." _And the man disappeared, probably finding himself back at his home, or in a volcanic cavern.

Arceus smiled. _"Now then, let us begin." _At that point several things happened at once. First, more creation energy than had been seen for a thousand years was released, this energy was the cause of the rest of the incidents.

Three pocket dimensions reopened, truly releasing their occupants for the first time in millennia, three Pokèballs, two in Unova and one in Kalos, exploded outwards and released their occupants, three locked chambers in the Hoenn region also opened, and a crystal deep underground in the same region exploded outwards, in the Sinnoh region a statute's outer crust crumbled to dust and released the begin within.

Then, Spear Pillar, a long decrepit temple atop an ancient mountain, rebuilt itself in a matter of seconds, growing to its once former glory.

And finally, a call was sent out, a call that had not been heard since before Arceus's banishment, and one that had never before been sent at this magnitude. This call was for a meeting.

* * *

Arceus sat at the front of a very large, very long table that sat within one of the largest rooms in existence, waiting for the others to arrive. He wouldn't be waiting long.

In three almost simultaneous flashes of light the Creation Trio appeared. Giratina was the first to speak up._ "Greetings father."_ He said. _"It has been some time since our last meeting." _

Arceus smiled. _"Yes my sons, it most certainly has." _Arceus looked over the three and saw the shame in their eyes. _"And worry not, I know the events involving Team Galactic were beyond your control. And that you weren't in control of your bodies for most of the time."_

Dialga smiled, the god of times uncertainty melting away, and said. _"Thank you father." _

Palkia too was relieved that his father was so forgiving, and he would have voiced it, had another flash of light not interrupted his thought.

"_Dad!" _A small green blur shot towards Dialga and latched onto his face. _"I missed you." _Tears of joy fell from Celebi's eyes as she hugged her father for the first time in too long.

The God of time smiled and said. _"And I missed you Celly." _A single tear slid down his face. Arceus smiled and cleared his throat.

"_What about Grandpa? Don't I even get a hello?"_ Celebi smiled and greeted and hugged her grandfather before taking a seat next to her father.

Not a moment later another three flashes filled the room, this time fading to reveal Mew with Mewtwo, the Lake Trio, and Jirachi.

Arceus smiled and greeted his old friends kindly, but to Mewtwo he said. _"It is a pleasure to finally meet you Mewtwo, you have done a truly wonderful job in the Kanto region."_

The Psychic-Type thanked Arceus and took his seat, rendered almost speechless by the praising. The next legendary to arrive flew in from the largest of the tunnels leading to the outside, his serpentine form coiling around the table. _"Rayquaza." _Arceus greeted the sky lord.

"_Arceus." _He greeted in kind.

Soon after four beings entered the room. _"Greeting Lord Arceus." _Cobalion greeted, bowing along with the other swordsmen. _"It is an honor to finally meet you."_

Arceus smiled again. _"Rise Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion, Keldeo, you bow to no one my swordsmen, for none have done more than you to protect the world in my absence."_

The four rose and took their seats as Latios and Latias entered the chamber, followed quickly by Deoxys and Landorus. Not long after that Ho-Oh, Lugia, and the legendary birds flew in accompanied by Tornadus and Thundurus.

Greetings were exchanged as Suicune, as well as her brothers entered the chamber, soon followed by all four Regis and Shaymin in her sky form.

Before long almost every legendary was present. Kyurem, Zekrom, and Reshiram having been the latest arrivals. Only two were still missing from the meeting, Darkrai and Yveltal.

"_Must we wait for them?" _Xerneas asked, perturbed that the Dark-Types, and the other half of the Mortality duo, were holding up the proceedings.

"_Yes Xerneas, I shall not begin until we are all present." _As soon as he said this the shadows in the room seemed to grow darker and converge at one point. Soon fading to reveal the two Dark-Types.

"_My apologies my lord." _Darkrai said as he floated to his seat. _"Yveltal had some...misgivings about attending this meeting so I took it upon myself to convince him otherwise."_

"_Good, good." _Arceus said as Yveltal took a seat at the end of the table near Xerneas. _"Now we can begin."_

"_I believe you know why I called you all here." _He began.

"_It has to do with the humans correct?" _Heatran asked.

"_Indeed, as many of you are aware," _His eyes darted to Reshiram, Zekrom, Xerneas, and Mewtwo. _"Some of you too aware, as of late the humans have been getting worse in their ways, even going as far as to capture we legendaries in their accursed Pokèballs"_

No one made eye contact with Reshiram, Zekrom or Xerneas as Arceus continued. _"Even so, I cannot bring myself to punish all humans for the crimes of the few and thusly...I have reached a dilemma."_

Several legendaries gasped at this, for Arceus always had a plan. _"I cannot leave the Pokèmon in harms nor can I allow things to continue as they are. And so, I look to you my legendaries...does anyone have any ideas?"_

For a moment, no one spoke, every Pokèmon in the room shocked into silence as Arceus admitted that he was in need of advice. And no one answered, until Mew broke the silence. _"Couldn't you just move the Pokèmon?" _

Everyone looked to her in confusion until Manaphy asked. _"Where to? There aren't any regions void of human life and if Groudon made a new one they would show up there soon enough. Plus we can't really move every Pokèmon on the planet to one region anyway."_

"_Yes, but Perhaps," _Mew said deviously. _"We wouldn't have to leave them on this planet."_ Whispers went up amongst the legendaries until Arceus asked the question on everyone's mind.

"_Mew...what are you suggesting?"_

"_What I'm suggesting, father, is that we move the Pokemon to an entirely new planet, I know they exist, Deoxys is proof enough for that." _The former space virus suddenly found every set of eyes in the room locked on him, he subconsciously shifted to defense form. Mew continued. _"And with you and the Creation Trio free, there's nothing stopping you from moving all the Pokèmon to a new home."_

Arceus thought for a second but Cresselia interrupted a plan brewing in his incomprehensibly vast mind. _"Or you could just turn all the humans into Pokèmon."_ That stopped his train of thought.

Darkrai, the other half of the Lunar Duo, rolled his eyes and said. _"And give people like Giovanni actual powers? Great idea."_

Cresselia glared at him and rebutted. _"Just make him a Caterpie or a Sewaddle, Bug types don't typically live that long."_

The pair continued to bicker until Hoopa spoke up. _"If you two lovebirds are going to argue could you at least do it in private?" _

The Mischief Pokèmon accentuated the last word just enough that everyone in the room fell silent again and a deep blush crept to the cheeks of both lunar Pokèmon.

"_Thank you Hoopa," _Arceus said. _"Now if I may continue," _He looked at Darkrai and Cresselia, who, sitting next to each other, had moved their chairs as far from each other as their other neighbor would allow, neither of whom were allowing very much. _"While I have...considered transformation to be a possibility, I believe that Mew's idea is the best course of action."_

"_Wait," _Uxie said in confusion. _"There are actually other worlds that could support the Pokèmon out there?"_

"_But I thought that you created everything dad." _Mesprit added.

"_Perhaps he made a backup world in case anything like this ever happened." _Azelf finished.

While he didn't say anything, a shiver ran down Rayquaza's spine, it always freaked him out when those three did that.

"_Never once did I say I created everything, I just said I created the entire universe." _Arceus stated.

"_But... the universe is everything... my lord." _Ho-Oh said.

"_No, it's just all of reality, that doesn't mean that there aren't other realities. Just look at Giratina, he rules over a reverse copy of the material plane."_

"_Lord Arceus?" _Virizion asked. _"What exactly are you talking about?"_

"_Alternate universes my dear. Worlds parallel to our own...and I think that is what I shall do, but I couldn't separate some of the humans from their partners. So I think that perhaps Cresselia's plan could also be put into effect, to a certain extent anyway."_

With most of the room still confused Genesect decided he would try to work out Arceus's plan. _"So let me get this straight," _He began. _"Your plan is to move the Pokèmon to another world that exists outside of this universe?"_

"_Yes." _Arceus answered. _"As well as some of the humans, but they themselves will have to become Pokèmon so not to cause too much trouble."_

Cresselia smiled as Arceus revealed his intent to use her plan, she had several humans whom she was currently watching, and making them Pokèmon would make their lives so much easier.

Some of the legendaries were still unsure of the logic behind Arceus's plan. Lugia, one of the sea lords decided to try and clear up part of it. _"If you plan to transform the humans into Pokèmon, why not just leave them all on Earth and change them all?"_ Arceus was all to happy to answer.

"_Originally that was one of my first plans, but Darkrai made a good point, and besides that, I do not intend to transfer all the Pokèmon to this new world, those Pokèballs only go so far in bending their prisoners will and they don't even do it at all if the trainer is a kind soul, some the Pokèmon members of these teams, Rocket, Galactic, Magma, and even some of the wild Pokemon have also strayed from the path of righteousness... I don't think I've ever actually used that word before but it's surprisingly accurate."_

"_Hang on a second," _Deoxys said, tapping a gelatinous finger on the table. _"Your plan is to move most of the Pokèmon of Earth, excluding the ones who, I'm guessing this council deem 'too far gone' or something like that, to a planet in an alternate universe, along with any humans that are deemed 'worthy' but those humans will be transformed into Pokemon so that they can live at peace with all the others?"_

"_That about sums it up, and the Lake Trio will be in charge of finding the right humans, patrons of all Psychic-Types and what not." _Arceus answered. _"Now, give me a few minutes and I'll find a desirable world."_

And with that, Arceus disappeared in a flash of light, leaving fifty-three of the most powerful Pokèmon in the world, most of whom were wondering what had just happened, to prepare for some kind of God level event. Uxie was the first to break the silence. _"Should, should we start looking for humans now? Or does he have some kind of step-by-step plan?"_

"_I'm beginning to wonder if he ever had a plan to begin with," _Palkia said in disbelief. _"Maybe he just created the universe and then just 'went with the flow' as the young people say."_

"_Is it possible that he went insane?" _Phione asked. _"Maybe all those years trapped alone drove him mad."_

Groudon shook his head. _"No, he acted like this even before he was locked away... I actually thought several thousand years in solitary confinement would make him act a little more sensical sometimes... boy was I wrong." _


	2. Prologue

Arceus was once again alone in his pocket dimension, the difference was that this time he wanted to be there, and that he knew five beings that could now enter the space at their leisure.

"_No humans this time... why do they appear in so many places in the multiverse anyway? So lets see... no, too many aliens there, won't be able to convince them all that were not animals... only one human there but that world's to... crazy. How about... wait are we a video game there?... I'll have to talk to this Satoshi Tajiri later... I suppose a planet in that galaxy would be, wait... ok now that's just plain disturbing... this is a lot harder than I thought it would be you'd think I could just- Ah hah!"_

Arceus looked at the 'file' in his grasp. _"Peaceful, natural, already has multiple species but has enough space for the Pokèmon if they can live side by side, a few problems in some of the regions but I doubt I'll find anywhere that's perfect.'"_

Arceus smiled as he looked at the world he had chosen, an image of a golden city set on a mountainside, of a deep forest, needing a bit of order but fixable with some help, of a small village on the edge of the forest, where the inhabitants went about their business, unaware that one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse was watching them.

"_Equestria, here we come."_

* * *

In the land of Equestria, in the quiet town of Ponyville everypony was going about their daily business, the mayor was enroute to her office, the sofa clerk was selling his quills, three little fillies stood on the roof of Sugarcube Corner with parachutes that they got from Celestia knows where on their backs, the lord of chaos was having tea with his best friend in a small cottage on the edge of a forest. A normal day in the little rural town.

As on any normal day, many Ponies were in the market, shopping for supplies. One of these Ponies was the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, Twilight to her friends and to anyone she could convince not to call her princess. "Alright, that's parchment, quills, eggs..." Twilight Sparkle's Dragon assistant, Spike, checked items off an abnormally long check list as he read them aloud. "I think that's about it Twi."

"Good." She replied. "That means that we can-"

"Twilight! Spike!" Twilight and Spike suddenly found themselves tackled to the ground by a blurry pink shape, mysterious might have been an applicable descriptor as well, if they hadn't known _exactly _who had tackled them.

"Pinkie Pie..." Twilight sighed, staring at the mare who had tackled her. "What was that for?"

Pinkie Pie laughed. "I needed to get your attention sillies." She said as if it were obvious.

Twilight dusted herself off as she got up and sighed, she had become use to her friends antics but sometimes Pinkie would still do something that she didn't understand. "Well you've got our attention Pinkie, what is it?"

Pinkie Pie developed a very serious look on her face and leaned close to her friends. "Come here." She whispered Twilight and Spike leaned in. "Closer." They were now only a few feet from Pinkie. "Closer." Pinkie was uncomfortably close and whispering in their ears.

"What is it?" Spike asked, fearing the worse.

Pinkie peered from side to side, wary of anypony listening to their conversation. Then, in her normal cheery voice asked. "What'cha doin?"

Spike sighed and face palmed while Twilight just laughed. "We're getting supplies Pinkie, what are you up to?"

"Not much," She replied. "I'm on my lunch break so I'm visiting everypony and talking to them, asking them about their day, warning them that my Pinkie sense had been acting up again."

"What?!" Twilight shouted in fear, the last time Pinkie's Pinkie sense had acted up she had been crushed by a piano, chased by a Hydra, and sent through her first rage shift since magic kindergarten.

"Yeah," Pinkie smiled happily. "Everypony seems to be having a normal day, well, normal for them at least, I suppose what's normal for Derpy and D-Time Turner probably wouldn't be normal for Roseluck or her sisters but-"

"No Pinkie, not that, your Pinkie sense has been acting up again?"

"Yeah, actually that reminds me. If you see me vibrating around town later could you tell me? Then I'll scream, **DOOZY!** Just like I mean to last time."

"Uh...sure," Twilight deadpanned. "But I probably won't be around tomorrow, it's reshelving day at the library and we'll both be busy," She scooped Spike up in her magic and placed him on her back. "Anyway, bye Pinkie!" Twilight galloped off, Spike clinging to her mane, and left Pinkie behind them waving.

"Bye Twilight, bye Spike." With that Pinkie pie trotted back to Sugarcube Corner, she still had to bake a batch of 'Sorry the cakes yelled at you and called your parents and big sisters and Rainbow Dash, they just didn't want you to get hurt' cupcakes for the crusaders.

Meanwhile, at Golden Oaks Library, Twilight Sparkle had just arrived and was unloading her saddlebags, while double locking the door and closing all the windows. "Ok Spike," She walked over to a supply closet and rifled through the various objects within. "You know the drill."

"Yes ma'am." Spike saluted and pulled a roll of bubble wrap, some duct tape, and a kitchen pot from the emergency drawer in the closet. Twilight came out a moment later wearing her 'emergency Pinkie' umbrella hat. "Twilight, do you think this town will ever be normal?" Spike asked as he wrapped himself in bubble wrap, laughing at the impossibility of his own question.

Twilight smiled and thought of everything that had happened to her since she came to Ponyville. Saving Luna, stopping Discord, reforming Discord, becoming a princess and, most important of all, meeting her friends. "I sure hope not."

* * *

The hall of legends is normally a stoic and serious place, imposing a sense of awe and order upon all who are allowed entry. That's because "normally" has been several millennia since any actual meetings had been held there and many of the current legendaries had never actually been there.

The fact that fifty-three of the most powerful beings in the universe were all within one room would make most people think that there would be discussions about the state of the world and tales of great deeds and while both of those did come up the conversations that arose were mostly old friends catching up with each other, jokes being told, and gossip being swapped.

"_I know it's obvious that they like each other." _Diancie whispered to Phione and Shaymin, who was still in her sky form. _"But Hoopa should know better than to tease them like that."_

"_If you say so." _Phione said, rolling her eyes. _"All I know is that he's never once asked her out on a real date, and maybe some public prodding will push them in the right direction."_

"_She does always talk about him whenever I visit her." _Shaymin said, considering the situation. _"And I think she has one of those little statues of him the humans make to ward off nightmares in her little grove."_

"_Awww." _Diancie couldn't help herself, she was always a sucker for a bit of romance.

Meanwhile on the opposite side of the room the Mewtwo, Genesect and Deoxys were in a discussion about Arceus' decision. _"As long as it gets me as far from Giovanni and possible I'll be fine." _Mewtwo said with finality. _"Although, I have to admit that seeing him as a Caterpie would be rather amussing."_

"_I'm just wondering what this new world will be like." _Deoxys said. _"I've only ever seen this one and the moon. I hope it's not like the moon."_

"_Wait, did you not come from another planet?" _Genesect asked, hoping to gain some insight into his friends origin.

Deoxys shook his head. _"I might have or I might have just been hurtling through space for a millennia, I was a virus at the time so I don't have any memories."_

The various conversations continued for quite some time, and could have gone on all night, had Arceus not reappeared at the front of the table. _"I believe I have found the perfect world."_

Everyone ceased their various activities and returned to their seats. _"What have you found my lord?" _Zapdos asked, excited to begin.

"_A world not so different from our own and planet called Equus and the lands of Equestria, Griffenhiem, Zebrica, and many others, all mostly peaceful. I believe that it is more than I could have asked for."_

"_Are there other beings?" _Keldeo inquired.

"_Yes, both sapient and non-sapient beings are abundant in this world, most of them have appearances similar to one Pokemon or another, and most of the non-sapients should be replaced quite easily by the other Pokèmon as time moves on, though some may prove to be a bit difficult." _Arceus wanted to answer all the questions to the best of his ability.

"_And the sapients? What are they like?" _Lugia asked, hoping for good news.

"_The majority are at peace with each other, and the world is in a much more natural state than this one thanks to that. Appearance wise they differ greatly but the majority are quite similar to Ponyta or young Keldeo here." _Arceus used his powers to project a picture of one of the ponies he had seen, a blue mare with a rainbow mane.

Murmurs arose from the group as they considered these new beings but Arceus continued. _"They are called ponies, although other species include Griffins, Zebras, and... Dragons."_ This announcement caused an uproar from the gathered Pokemon.

"_How?"_

"_Outrage!"_

"_Impossible!"_

"_Silence!"_ The legendaries fell silent as Arceus silenced them with a single word. _"While I realize that this is a bit odd, Dragons that I didn't create? I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself, but it seems that they are few and far between, plus they don't have as much power as our Dragons and I doubt any of them would cause much trouble for us should they attempt to harm the other Pokemon."_

For a moment, no one said a word, then a voice like a rockslide spoke. _"What of the condition of the world itself?" _Regigigas asked.

"_Yesss," _Zygarde agreed. _"I would like to know, how isss the natural order of thisss world?"_

Arceus smiled, his two world guardians, still unchanged. _"Harmony is the predominant force but chaos has a hold in several places, although the avatar of chaos has actually turned towards harmony as of late."_

"_A being who represents chaos?" _Rayquaza asked. _"Is it going to be a problem?"_

"_I don't think so, from what I've discerned he is currently controlled by one of these ponies, and besides, if necessary I will take care of him myself."_

Celebi was the next to pose a question. _"Are there any more of these manifestations?"_

Arceus thought for a moment, then replied. _"Yes, two sisters who represent the sun and the moon, they rule one of the countries, Equestria, and are both more intune with harmony." _Arceus smiled and continued. _"Harmony itself has six elements with physical forms, jewelry but still, they are loyalty, honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, and magic."_

Arceus paused, thinking, then finished. _"There was a being who represented shadow and darkness but he has recently been... obliterated."_

The hall was silent as everyone considered what to ask next. When no one spoke up Mewtwo decided to ask a question that had plagued his very existence when he was first born. _"Will we be accepted?"_

Arceus looked at Mewtwo and over the rest of the legendaries, the ones he wanted to protect more than anything, the only ones who he had known since before his imprisonment, his sons, his daughter, and, even when he wasn't related to them at all, the ones he considered his family. _"The citizens of Equus, and Equestria especially are rather accepting and friendly, for the most part, and, given time, I believe that they will accept us, probably faster than you might think."_

The hall of legends was silent, for a pregnant moment every legendary was silent as everyone considered the plan laid out before them. Some, such as the Creation Trio, the Lake Trio and Mew, had complete faith in their father, while some, like Yveltal and Kyurem, didn't completely trust the plan, still others, like Registeel and Moltres, simply didn't care one way or the other.

"_Well then lets get a move on!" _Mew said, causing shocked silence from some of the legendaries and quiet laughter from some of the others, Arceus himself was in the later category.

"_Alright, first things first, we need to connect to the morphic field and locate all the Pokemon and...Pokemon to be, and then I can begin transferring and... transforming. My sons, my daughters, lend me your power, lend me your minds!"_

With that the elemental plates began to swirl around the Alpha Pokemon, strengthening his power while Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina began drawing power from their orbs to increase their own powers and then feeding their combined strengths into their father, strengthening his powers to new levels.

Mew also sent her powers over genetic manipulation to her father, allowing him to manipulate DNA wherever necessary.

While their siblings augmented their fathers power the Lake Trio, the most powerful Psychics on the planet, strengthened his mind. Allowing him to stretch his consciousness around the world and wrap around the mind of every being, from this position of ultimate awareness and power, one he had not experienced since he first created his children, Arceus determined which humans and Pokemon were worthy to travel to the new world.

Needless to say, it was a lot, more Pokemon than humans but still, plenty on both sides. _"I'll leave the neutral humans as well, and some of the good ones who don't have Pokemon and wouldn't appreciate the change." _With these new criteria set Arceus started the process, first inducing sleep in the ones he was transferring, then transferring them, and finally, transforming the humans into Pokemon, ones that fit either their personality or, and this came up more often than one might have thought, fit their loved ones form.

"_Rest now my children," _He said gently. _"For when you awake a whole new world shall be your home."_

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Kalos region, several minutes before a universe altering event, a trainer and his partner where running through the woods.

"I understand *pant* them chasing us. But how *gasp* are there **two **Officer Jennies after us!?" The trainer panted.

"_I'm not sure but the Growlithe are currently apologizing profusely for the entire situation." _His partner explained.

"Well that's great, if you can convince them to **STOP CHASING US! **Then maybe we can actually get out of here!"

"You're not going anywhere criminal scum!" One of the Jennies shouted. "No where except jail! Growlithe use Ember!"

"Groww..." Reluctantly the Fire-Type shot a blast of fire at the pair, it missed by a mile and hit a nearby tree.

"Alright that's it," The trainer said, turning towards his pursuers, his partner stopping next to him. "I've had enough of this." He straightened his hat and said. "Belle, use Psychic."

"_Yes Gene." _She said, stretching out her arm and losing her psychic power in the direction of the officers. _"I apologize for this." _She said, more to the Pokemon then the officers.

The officers, and the Pokemon caught in the line of fire, passed out as the Gardevoir's mental power drove their minds into unconsciousness.

"Good work Belle," Gene said checking to make sure they sisters weren't physically harmed. "That should keep them out for a few hours at least." He patted the Growlithes on the head, feeling sorry that they had to suffer at all. "Now lets get Draco out and get the heck out of Kalo-"

Gene stopped mid sentence as something suppressed his mind, much in the way Belle's Psychic had done to the Jennies. The same feeling fell over Belle, as well as a large portion of the Earth's populs and suddenly, all those beings found themselves fading from the world with no explanation save for a sentence that most would not remember when they woke up.

"_Rest now my children, for when you awake a whole new world shall be your home."_


	3. Chapter 1

The Golden Oaks library is normally a place of order, a picture of serenity and peace. I say normally because 'normally' isn't every other tuesday, otherwise known as reshelving day.

Twilight Sparkle stood in the center of the chaos, a smidgen of which would have made Discord proud, a day having passed since Pinkie Pie's visit. "Spike! Have you seen Fire and Ice: A Guide to Elemental Magic anywhere?" She shouted to the Dragon, currently rooting through a pile of books. He stuck his head out of the pile, a confused look on his face.

"Twilight, I can't find my own tail in this mess!" He crawled around in the pile a little more until he came out holding his tail in his hand. "Found it!"

Twilight rolled her eyes and continued to look at the plethora of books floating around her, eventually finding the correct boom and placing it on its spot on the shelf. "One down, two thousan-"

"**DOOZY!"**

The sound of one of her friends screaming reverberated throughout the library, causing the Alicorn to lose her concentration and drop all of the books she was holding, several of which bounced off of her and Spike's heads. Normally Twilight would have rushed to see what was wrong, but after several stories had been told to her about doozies past Twilight had developed a contingency plan. "Spike get over here, we're taking a trip to Canterlot."

The little Dragon rushed over to Twilight and hopped on her back, Twilight prepared to activate a very powerful teleportation spell when another call went up from the same pony.

"**TWITCHY TAIL!"**

This was followed by a resounding crash and a flash of light that once again threw off Twilight's concentration, but not before losing a teleportation spell that dropped her and Spike several hundred feet above the library.

"Aaaaaahh!"

"Aaaaaahh!"

The princess and her assistant screamed as they plummeted towards certain doom, or at least a strong possibility of doom, this was all completely irrelevant, of course, considering that Twilight remembered that she had wings before crashing into the ground. Twilight landed safely in front of the library, panting in fear.

"What happened!" Spike asked woozily.

"I don't know," Twilight said, using the breathing technique Cadence taught her to get her racing heart rate down. She looked towards town in the direction of the Sugarcube Corner. "But I bet I know somepony who does."

With that she galloped towards Sugarcube Corner, Spike clinging to her mane as she ran.

* * *

Gene woke up with the worst headache of his life, even worse than the time he had scared a Yanmega and gotten hit with a very powerful Supersonic. "OWWW!" He cried as he grabbed his head. "What happened?"

He opened his eyes and was temporarily blinded by the sudden sunlight. Once he regained his vision he smiled at the sight before him. Belle was asleep atop his chest, a small smile graced her face. His worries temporarily forgotten, Gene smiled and shifted his weight, trying to get comfortable.

This small motion awoke Belle from her sleep, her eyelids fluttered open. "Good morning beautiful." Gene said, smiling at his partner.

Belle had been the first Pokemon Gene had gotten after starting his journey in the Hoenn region, he had gotten her from the Mossdeep City gym, she had been with him as he traveled the Hoenn, Johto, Kanto, Sinnoh, Unova, and more recently Kalos regions. These were just a few of the reasons why Gene got confused when Belle grabbed him in a telekinetic grasp, yanked him into the air, and held him upside down, staring him in the eyes, and said with hatred in her voice. "You have five seconds to tell me where my trainer is before I start pulling the information from. Your. Mind."

Gene swallowed nervously, he had seen what Belle could do to someone's mind, that was one of the few times Belle had scared him in any way. "Belle?" He asked nervously. "Are you alright? Cause you're kinda scaring me."

The Gardevoir's eyes widened in shock and she dropped Gene on his head, where he landed on what felt like a spike, before falling on his back. "G-Gene?" Belle stuttered. "I-is that you?"

Gene pushed himself so he was sitting up and said. "Of course it's me," He repositioned the hat that, despite him having been held upside down and dropped on his head, remained on his head. "Who else would it b-"

At this point there were several things Gene could have noticed, from his location to his current...appearance, but what he did notice wasn't any of that. "Belle! You can talk! As in I actually _heard _you, without telepathy."

Belle stared at her partner, dumbstruck at his realization, and said. "Gene...I'm going to look in your mind because I need to figure out what happened to you." Her eyes started to glow bright blue as she mentally reached towards him.

"Wait what's wrong with me!? I mean I feel fi-" Gene paused when he felt the familiar presence of Belle entering his mind, only to withdraw a few seconds later. Her eyes stopped glowing as she returned to the confines of her mind having gathered the information she needed, and stared at the being she was now sure was her partner.

"Gene...I have _no_ idea how you haven't realized this but, you should_ really _look at your hands."

"Oook," Gene said, deciding to humor his partner. "I don't really see what that's gonna..." Gene trailed off as he looked at his hands, or what he was assuming were his hands. Instead of five digits as he was expecting he had three green fingers that were connected to an equally green arm that, instead of bending at the elbow and then continuing to his shoulder, went onward from the elbow in _two _directions, going on to his shoulder as it was suppose to, _and _jutting straight out at the elbow, coming to an end at a point like a sword. in addition his arm, or at least the part that wasn't a sword, was incredibly thin and the part that was a sword was just as wide and almost as flat as it's actual counterpart.

Gene was normally a calm and collected individual, he had several Pokemon on his team that most other trainers wouldn't be able to catch in any of their forms, let alone train, and he had been through plenty of trouble on his journey. His journey had changed his life in so many ways, some good, some bad. But he had, physically at least, always been the same. So when he saw what had happened to his arms he was confused and shocked for the first time in quite awhile.

"Whaa?" He looked up and down his body seeing what else had changed, there were a lot more, and they were not small. The upper part of his torso was startlingly thin, with a pink triangle sticking out of his chest, which he suspected went through to the other side. While the lower half of his torso looked like an inflatable tube, in contrast to his upper body which was dark green, everything below his waist was stark white, including his feet, which were almost elephantine in appearance, and his legs which, until reaching where his ankle had been, remained mostly unchanged despite being white. "B-Belle?" He said. "What am I!?"

He jolted upright and patted down his head and face, already suspecting the answer. As he patted his head his suspicions were almost confirmed when he felt the helmet like growth covering his head, he also saw the very edge of it covering his face out of the corner of his eyes. He also felt two points sticking out of the corner of his face, were his ears use to be, (he assumed the sensory organs were behind them) and finally, feeling through his hat, the tall ridge jutting from the top of his head.

"Gene," Belle said, still in shock. "You're a Gallade."

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Twilight Sparkle stood in Sugarcube Corner, the normally busy sweet shop was almost completely abandoned, Mr and Mrs. Cake were upstairs with Pound and Pumpkin Cake, and the only occupants of the bakery itself were Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike, who was hiding under a table, clinging to one of the legs. "You have _no _idea what's going to happen?" Twilight asked her friend, who having been pulled away from baking her special doozy time cupcakes, still had flour on her apron and in her mane.

"Nope." Pinkie exclaimed happily.

"Not even a location?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"Nu uh." Pinkie replied.

"Uggh." Twilight banged her head on the counter out of frustration. "Just calm down, she's just being Pinkie." Twilight mumbled to herself. "OK," She said, turning back to her friend. "Do you at least know what crashed, or where?"

Pinkie smiled and replied. "Weell, I know it crashed in the Everfree, like beyond Zecora's house and the old castle,"

"Go on..." Twilight implored.

"And that whoever landed it is going to need a welcome party!" She finished.

"Uggh..." Twilight groaned again. _This is going to be a long day. _"Pinkie, I know this is hard for you but you have to tell me anything you can about whatever crashed."

"And the doozy." Pinkie corrected.

"What?" Twilight asked, confused.

"The doozy and the twitchy tail." She explained.

"Wait," Twilight held up a hoof to quiet her friend. "You mean that whatever crashed **wasn't **the doozy?!"

"Nope." Pinkie said, still smiling.

Twilight was at a loss for words, now she not only had to deal with whatever had crashed in the Everfree, she assumed it was a meteor but she wanted to make sure it wasn't some previously unknown force of evil or destruction, she also had to figure out what this doozy was, and she had a feeling that this time it wouldn't be her going through a rage shift and accepting more of Pinkie's nonsensical logic.

"Pinkie I need you to get Rainbow Dash and Rarity, I'll get Fluttershy and AppleJack. We need to have a meeting...and I have to make sure Fluttershy isn't hiding under her bed," She ushered Pinkie out the door and pulled Spike from under the table, placing him next to her. "More than likely, I'll have to pull her out from under her bed."

"Okey, dokey, lokey." Pinkie said happily as she trotted through the seemingly abandoned town towards Carousel Boutique.

"Where is everypony?" Spike asked as he and Twilight walked towards Fluttershy's cottage.

"Probably hiding from Pinkie's doozy." Twilight said nonchalantly. "I just hope I can convince Fluttershy to come out."

"Yeah about that," Spike said. "What you going to do when you and the others are all together?" He asked.

"What do you mean Spike?" Twilight asked as she continued to look for any sign of life in the town.

Spike paused, looking at the vacant town. "Well you don't have any idea what's actually happening and if whatever crashed in the Everfree is dangerous you don't have the elements to stop it," Noticing that Twilight had continued to walk Spike rushed to catch up with her. "Also shouldn't we send a letter to Princess Celestia, or Luna or anyone?"

"Don't worry Spike, we've handled plenty of problems without the elements," She looked in the direction of Canterlot, squinting to see the city. "And besides I think that that crash was probably heard in Canterlot and I bet the princesses will be here any minute."

* * *

Meanwhile in Canterlot.

"DISCORD YOU MONSTER! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY CAKE!" Princess Celestia burst from the kitchen searching for her prey. Unaware that the god of chaos, and her little sister, were hiding behind a nearby curtain.

"Do you think we went to far this time?" Luna asked, still snickering.

"Nah, old sun butt will calm down once she can't finds us and raids the pantry instead," Discord said with a devious grin. "Now who wants cake?" He said, pulling a beautifully decorated chocolate cake. "Come on, it's your favorite." He waved a piece in front of the lunar princesses face.

Luna smiled and took the cake. "Thank you...but don't you think we should at least look into that explosion?"

"Nah," Discord said, shoving a piece of cake, fork, plate and all, into his mouth. "Sounded like it came from the Everfree, that's Princess Twilight's territory."

To prove his point, Discord pulled down a large map of Equestria split into into several sections, with a purple area labeled PTS stretching over Ponyville and the Everfree. One labeled Lulu covering the rest of equestria overlapping a section labeled Tia, the only difference was that Luna's had the word 'moon' in it, while Celestia's had the word 'sun' another section over the Crystal Empire was labeled 'candy girl and shiny' and the section covering Canterlot was labeled 'Discordtopia'.

Luna rolled her eyes at the map and continued. "Be that as it may, or may not, be the guards say that half the city is hiding in their homes and-"

"HUH!" Discord gasped and grabbed Luna's face. "Why didn't you tell me! This is too important to miss!"

"Thank you, that's what I've...wait, miss what?"

"Miss the chance take this little escapade out on the town!" Discord threw back the curtain and was wearing a tuxedo, top hat, monocle and holding a cane. "I can _never _go out without everyone screaming completely ruining the decor, and this," He gestured vaguely out the window. "Is the perfect opportunity for all of us to spend some time together outside the castle."

Discord threw open the closest window, changed into a sky diving outfit, and yelled. "Tia! Luna and I stole your cake, come and get it!" Before jumping out the window.

Luna watched as Discord fell several hundred feet before opening a parachute that read CMC's on the back, and landing in the gardens. "I still think we should-" Luna was suddenly interrupted when her sister ran into the hallway screaming.

"GIVE ME BACK MY CAKE!" With that Luna leaped out the window, unfurled her wings and glided down to the garden, where she ran towards the now open gates saying.

"Sorry Twilight!"

* * *

Twilight and Spike arrived at Fluttershy's cottage and made their way to her the front door. "Alright Spike, behind these doors is a room full of scared animals and a terrified Pegasus, I want you to get ready to comfort and soothe like you've never comforted and soothed before."

Twilight said, prepping him for what they were going to have to do. "Ready!" Spike said dutifully. Twilight nodded and opened the door, prepared for whatever was behind them. And screamed, Spike screamed to, but Twilight didn't hear him, Spike didn't hear her either, they both screamed and screamed at the sight behind the door. The skull like face, the glowing red eye behind that face, the wispy, grey body. They continued to scream until they needed to breathe, then the creature uttered a single phrase. "Duskull?" Rather quizzically and they started screaming again. This could have continued until Twilight and or Spike developed a sore throat, or fainted. But fortunately the odd floating being wasn't the only being home.

"Oh Duskull no, you shouldn't do that," A butter yellow Pegasus fluttered into view and gently nudged the floating skull out of view. "You could scare somepony or get hurt."

Fluttershy looked at her friends, feeling sorry that her new friend had scared them, and said. "Um, hi Twilight, hi Spike, what brings you here?"

Twilight, panting from fear, looked at her friend and said. "Fluttershy, what _was _that thing?!"

"Oh, that was just Duskull, my new pet. I found him this morning, after that big explosion when I went to check on all my animal friends and-"

"Wait," Twilight held up her hoof to stop her friend. "You found a creature with a skull face and a wispy body,"

"A ghost." Spike offered helpfully, earning him a glare from Twilight.

"And you let it into your house?!" Fluttershy pawed the ground sheepishly and said.

"Um...yes? I'm sorry he just looked so confused and scared and the others all-"

"Others?" Spike and Twilight said together.

"Um, yes," Fluttershy said. "Duskull wasn't the only little guy I found out there, in fact-"

"Cubone!" Fluttershy was cut off as a voice similar to that of a crying foal came from within the cottage.

"Oh no, I just got him to sleep!" Fluttershy zipped back into her cottage, allowing the confused Alicorn and Dragon to see into the room, their mouths both dropped open.

Fluttershy's cottage was normally filled with all manner of creatures, from Beavers to Bears and Dogs to Draconequus the mare was the place to go if you wanted any kind if pet, and Twilight was always prepared for whatever was going to be there. Of course she hadn't expected a floating skull to show up, nor had she expected something to crash in the Everfree, today was turning out to be a very abnormal day.

Inside Fluttershy's living room were a collection of creatures that looked like they came out of a foals video game. There was a pink cat like creature sleeping on a window sill, it's puffy tail was being batted at by an otter like creature with a sea shell on it's chest. A tiny beetle looking thing with a brown shell was crawling around on the floor near the coffee table which was occupied by not one, not two, but three brown and white fox like creatures and what looked like a blue lion cub with a star on its tail, a large red and green dragonfly flew around the room, occasionally pausing to hover near a group of yellow fluffy things on the ceiling. Fluttershy was at one of the pet beds, this one apparently meant for a very special pet, in the process of comforting a small brown creature with a skull on its head that was crying its eyes out, and scolding one of the only normal animals in the room, a bunny Twilight recognized as the miniature demon known as Angel.

"-and you couldn't give up one of your beds for a few hours so that Cubone could get some sleep!?" Angel waved his arms and hopped up and down, pointing at the various creatures and squeaking to prove his point. "Don't give me that mister," Fluttershy said sternly. "Now you go upstairs and think about what you've done," With that Angel grabbed one of his stuffed carrots and, shooting a poison glare at the little creature still crying in his bed, tromped upstairs. "And you're not allowed down until I say so!" Fluttershy shouted as the bunny passed out of sight.

Fluttershy turned back to the crying creature and started soothing it. "Oh don't cry Cubone, everything is going to be alright."

Twilight and Spike slowly walked to the center of the room awestruck at the plethora of odd creatures around the room. "Fluttershy," Twilight said staring at the various creatures. "What are these things?"

Fluttershy, still comforting the Cubone, which had finally stopped crying, barely looked up as she said. "Oh, these are some of the creatures I found in the woods when I went looking for my animal friends." She kissed the Cubone on it's boney snout and placed it in the bed again, tucking it in and nuzzling it as it laid it's head on the little pillow.

"Poor little guy, he just won't stop crying," As Fluttershy walked over to her friends several of the creatures scampered, or floated, or flew over to her and by the time she was in front of her friends she had a tiny otter clinging to her foreleg, a dragonfly sitting atop her head, wings buzzing infrequently, and the same ghostly skull floating in a wide circle around her head.

"Sorry about that, but ever since I found him Cubone has hardly stopped crying." Fluttershy explained.

"Fluttershy," Twilight said rubbing between her eyes and shaking her head. "What are these things? And why are there so many of them in your house?"

The dragonfly on Fluttershy's head buzzed irritably and Fluttershy patted it saying. "It's ok Yanma."

"Yan yan ma." It hummed looking at Twilight and Spike.

Fluttershy smiled and said. "Don't worry, they're really nice, I promise."

"Fluttershy..." Twilight said in practically a growl.

"Oh, s-sorry Twilight, they all just seem so scared and,"

"It's alright," Twilight said with a sigh. "Just please, can you tell me what these things are?"

"Well, I would but I don't actually know, I'm sorry." The little Pegasus looked down and pawed the ground again, ignoring the otter still clinging to her leg. Twilight stared at her friend in disbelief.

"You...don't know?" Fluttershy shook her head. "How can you," Twilight pointed a hoof at Fluttershy. "The mare who tamed a Manticore and befriended a Draconequus, not know what these animals are?!"

Fluttershy just eeped and said. "I'm sorry it's just, I've never seen anything like them before, I just call them what they keep saying but, that's either one name for all of them or it's the name for their species."

"What do you mean?" Spike asked.

"Well," She walked over to coffee table an nuzzled the little fox things.

"Vee."

"Vee."

"Vee."

They each said. "They keep saying Eevee, or part if it, so I just call them Eevee, and these little guys,"

She flew up to the congregation of tiny yellow things on the ceiling, the otter still clinging to her leg and the Duskull following her, she grabbed one of the tiny creatures and flew back down a few seconds later holding a tiny spider like thing, small enough to fit in the palm of her hoof. It looked up at Twilight with four electric blue eyes and said. "Joltik?" In a curious toned squeaky voice.

"Awww." Twilight cried, never having expected that she would think any kind of insect or arachnid was cute.

Fluttershy smiled and continued. "These little guys all say Joltik whenever they say something."

Twilight tore her eyes away the Joltik and said. "Alright we'll ignore the admittedly adorable creatures around your house for now... I came to get you because, honestly, I have no idea what's going on, with the doozy and whatever crashed in the everfree,"

"You mean t-those weren't the same thing?" Fluttershy asked in fear.

"Apparently not, and now that I'm here and I saw this," She gestured at the various creatures. "I have even less of a plan than when I came here, now we need to get going, we still have to get AppleJack."

"W-what for?" Fluttershy asked.

"We're having a meeting about... whatever is going in." Twilight explained.

"Oh, ok, I just have to get someone from the kitchen." Fluttershy set the tiny spider on the wall, where it scampered to rejoin it's group and trotted out of view, leaving Twilight and Spike alone with the various creatures. The little beetle like thing crawled over to her and looked up at her with two black eyes atop its shell.

"Kabuto?" It said. Twilight slid it away with a hoof and it crawled off.

"Wait did she say someone?" Spike asked, realizing what had just been said.

Before Twilight could respond Fluttershy reentered the room, lacking the otter and dragonfly but retaining the Duskull, in addition, a tiny white creature with blue and red markings and a pointed, crown like head sat atop her back. She was followed by a green creature comparable to a snake with arms and legs and a leaf like tail

"Ok Fluttershy, what are those? And why is that on your back?" Twilight asked eyeing the creatures.

"This," She answered motioning towards the snake thing. "Is Snivy,"

"Snivy." It said with a wave.

"And this little sweetie," She nuzzled the creature on her back. "Is Togepi."

"Toki, Toki, Pree!" It cried happily.

"Ok," Twilight said in an exasperated tone. "But why are they here?"

"Oh, Snivy's going to look after the place while I'm gone, I'd normally ask Angel but he's in trouble, and Snivy seems to be very responsible." Fluttershy explained, while Snivy developed a very snide expression. "And I just can't leave Togepi alone, I think she has separation anxiety, and until I can find her real family I can't leave her alone or she'll start bawling like when I found her."

"Fluttershy... I don't think it's a good idea to bring any of these, things, with. They might have something to do with everything that's going on." Twilight said as she looked at the tiny creature on Fluttershy's back.

"But Twilight, she gets so lonely... actually Cubone does too, maybe I should-"

"Fluttershy..." Twilight said. "We don't know anything about these things they could be danger-" Twilight stopped herself as several of the creatures looked at her with big CMC style eyes.

"Please Twilight," Fluttershy said with the same eyes as the creatures. "They're like foals, I can't leave those two-"

"Fine!" Twilight said. "Fine, just keep them out of trouble."

Fluttershy nodded and grabbed the still awake baby Cubone from his bed and placed him behind the Togepi on her back.

"Alright," Twilight sighed, "Let's go."

With that the three friends, and the two Pokemon, began the walk to Sweet Apple Acres. One of them reassuring the little ones on her back, who were slightly unsure after leaving the safety of her home. One of them still trying to work out the situation, and an actual plan to go with it, in her mind. And one of them wondering why something always went wrong on reshelving day.


	4. Chapter 2

"Gene you need to calm down!"

"Calm, right calm... I can't get calm!"

"Please sweetie, I promise everything is going to be alright, maybe Mage can do something."

"Well that'd be great, except that I have no idea where we are or where the rest of the team is!"

"Ok... I admit this is confusing, I mean you're a Pokémon, we have no idea where we are, and the others' Pokéballs are gone, but we've been in situations worse than this before, now please, lets just sit down and relax."

Gene took a few deep breaths and looked into Belle's eyes. The worry he saw there was enough to snap him back to reality. "Ok, ok." Gene leaned against a tree trunk and slid down it until he was sitting on the ground. "I'm calm, I. Am. Calm."

"Good," Belle said, kneeling down next to him. "Now then, let's deal with the problem at hand."

"Which one?" Gene asked.

Belle pursed her lips and said. "The one where you're a Gallade."

"Yeaah, I've got nothing, sorry."

Belle sighed and said. "That's obvious, but what are we going to do?"

Gene thought for a moment considering his options. "I think Iris might be the best chance...although Cynthia might have an idea or two, that old man in Shalour City might know something too but none of this is any help if we can't figure out where we are."

Belle nodded and sighed. "So, I guess we're back to plan A then."

"Yeah... wait, what's plan A?" Gene asked, looking up at his partner.

Belle smiled deviously and grabbed Gene's hand, pulling him to his feet as she stood up and pulling herself into Gene's arms. "This is plan A." She said snuggling closer to him, blushing slightly.

Gene was shocked at first, but after a few seconds he smiled and pulled Belle closer to him. The bridges of their helmets pressed together as they stared lovingly into each other's eyes. "I love you." Gene whispered.

Belle smiled, she had heard the words many times before but she never got tired of hearing him say it. "I love you too." Gene smiled and kissed Belle deeply, meeting her eager tongue as she forced her way into his mouth. This was far from the first time they had done this, and was far from the farthest they'd gone, but something was different this time. Possibly the fact that what they were doing was no longer considered illegal in most of the world.

When Gene finally broke the kiss to breathe he smiled, saying. "Well, it's good to see that _that _hasn't changed."

Belle wrapped her arms around his neck and pecked him on the lips. "You're not gonna get rid of me that easily. You're _my _mate, and a new body is not going to change that."

Gene smirked and kissed Belle again. "Well then," He leaned over Belle ballroom style, and said. "Why don't we take this body for a test ride before finding out what happened?"

Belle blushed deep red against her white skin. After a moment she smiled softly and said. "I think I'd like that." Gene smiled and leaned into a deep kiss from his mate, as he did this Gene felt his hat being lifted off of his head, revealing the large, blue fin that topped his helmet. "Gene," Belle said, breaking the kiss. "You know I love you no matter what but I gotta say, you look so handsome right now."

Gene smiled and kissed her again. "You know what? Maybe I'll consider keeping this body for a while," He pulled her closer to him, electing a small eep from his lover, and whispered in her ear. "Cause I can think of a few things we can do with it."

Belle's blush grew ever fiercer as her mate peppered her neck with kisses, she could only hold herself back for so much longer until she-

"What are they doing?" The pair heard a voice from the bushes whispering and, considering what was happening between them, reacted accordingly.

"AAHH!"

"Psychic!"

Very suddenly three shapes were thrown into the air and held there.

"Aah!"

"Aah!"

"Aah!"

Belle and Gene stared at the creatures in the air and Gene, simultaneous with one of the creatures, said.

"What the heck are you?"

"What the hay are ya?"

* * *

In a clubhouse on a secluded part of Sweet Apple Acres three little fillies sat in their tree fort discussing their most recent... attempt, at getting their cutie marks, and the scoldings they got once they got home.

"Ah still don't see how we didn't get are cutie marks, ah thought we did everythin' right."

Sweetie Belle was the first to answer. "I don't think the problem was the execution so much as the idea itself."

Scootaloo, the one who had come up with the idea, looked at her friend quizzically. "What do ya mean?"

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and explained. "I'm just saying, in hindsight, attempting to parachute off of Sugarcube Corner, in full view of everypony wasn't a really great idea. In fact, I don't think trying to parachute in general is a good idea."

"What?" Scootaloo said in disbelief. "Naah, we just have try to again..." She tapped her chin. "Maybe the barn this time."

Apple Bloom shook her head, seeing Sweetie Belle's logic. "Ya know what Scoots? Ah think that Sweetie here has-"

**"DOOZY!"**

All three fillies' eyes went wide as the sound of Pinkie's scream echoed across the fields. "Oh man, I gotta-" Sweetie started, she was interrupted however, when another cry went out.

**"TWITCHY TAIL!"**

Followed by a flash of light and a resounding crash.

"Aah!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders screamed and dove under the table at the side of the room.

"What was that?!"

"Ah don't know, sounded like a crash."

"What could cause a crash that big?"

"Maybe it was Discord? Or one of the Princesses?"

Apple Bloom squinted out the window. "Nope, sun's still in the sky."

Sweetie Belle face hoofed and mumbled. "That's not what I meant at all."

The conversation might have continued had a certain mare not interrupted them. "Apple Bloom! Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo! Are ya'll alright?!"

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo poked their heads out the window. "Yeah sis, we're fine."

A look of relief came across Applejack's face. "Good, now ah want you three ta come down here and then we're gonna go back to the house... and maybe the cellar."

"Aw come on Applejack," Scootaloo whined. "I wanna go see what happened."

"What!?" Sweetie Belle looked at her friend like she had lost her mind. "Are you crazy?"

"Ah'm gonna agree with Sweetie here Scoots," Applejack said as the fillies trotted down the gangplank. "What exactly are ya thinkin'?"

"I'm thinking that it's just Pinkie being Pinkie again," She explained. "I mean, when has one of her Pinkie senses ever hurt anypony?"

Apple Bloom stared at her friend and said. "How 'bout the time when it dropped a piano on Princess Twilight's head?"

"Or when it got me, Twilight, Pinkie, Spike, and Fluttershy chased by a Hydra?" Applejack added.

"Or when it got that load of pine sap dropped on Rarity?" Sweetie said.

"Oh, ah remember that," Applejack said chuckling. "She couldn't get her mane clean fer a month."

Apple Bloom smiled and remembered another example. "Or the time that it got Spike stuck in the old well?"

"Or when-" Sweetie started.

"Ok, ok," Scootaloo said, waving her hoof. "It was just an idea. I thought... never mind."

Applejack led the fillies back towards the farm, where Granny Smith and Big Macintosh were in the kitchen, Big Mac had a look of nervousness on his face and was being even quieter than usual, Granny Smith was... fast asleep in her rocking chair, not even the warning screams or crash could wake her from her nap.

Applejack left the fillies in the living room giving them explicit directions not to go anywhere, touch anything, or do anything. But the crusaders, or at least a headstrong little Pegasus, had only heard, go anywhere, touch anything, do anything. And responded accordingly.

"Come on girls," She said hopping off the couch. "We're going to investigate whatever crashed."

"You're jokin, right Scoots?" Apple Bloom asked hopefully.

"Are you kidding me? This could be our only chance to get our Cutie Marks in, in," Sudden inspiration hit the filly and she reared upright saying, just quietly enough not to be overheard. "UFO investigators!"

"Hang on a second, do UFO's even exist?" Sweetie asked.

"Well duh," Scootaloo said. "One just crashed in the Everfree."

"It's not a UFO!" Sweetie shouted. "It's probably just a meteor or something.

"Or the moon." Apple Bloom added.

"What?" Sweetie and Scootaloo asked together.

"We only know that Princess Celestia didn't drop the sun, maybe Princess Luna dropped the moon." Apple Bloom stated matter-of-factly.

"That's impossible!" Scootaloo shouted.

"Thank you." Sweetie was glad one of her friends was starting to show common sense.

"Princess Luna is way too awesome to drop the moon."

"Uggh." Or not.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo started arguing about the possibility of a celestial body falling in the Everfree, more accurately why Princess Luna wouldn't be the one to drop it.

"Girls!" Sweetie shouted. The pair stopped arguing and looked at their friend. "Ignoring everything else don't you think one of the princesses would have come around here if the moon did fall out of the sky?"

* * *

Meanwhile in Canterlot two princesses and a god of chaos sat inside one of the only open bakeries in the city, Pony Joe's Doughnut Emporium.

"Thank you Luna, Discord," She said, having just finished a doughnut cake they bought for her. "And I'm sorry for threatening to send you to the moon."

"Mmm." Luna grumbled.

"No problemo Celly." The Draconequus said. "Now come on, we have most of the city to ourselves and you know what that means!"

Celestia raised an eyelid and said. "No, what _does _that mean Discord?"

He smiled and said. "Shopping spree!" Before rushing out the door.

"... Shouldn't we stop him before he does something stupid?" Luna asked.

"Yes," Celestia said, sighing. "I suppose so."

Luna followed her sister out of the doughnut shop, teleporting some bits into the tip jar as she left. Once outside, the royal sisters quickly found Discord looting a souvenir shop, and he had gone all out in his looting, he had a miniature pirate ship parked outside, bobbing up and down in the pavement, and, once they got inside, they saw that he was sporting a pirate hat and dreadlocks, which were threaded with beads, there was a bandanna wrapped around his head and he was wearing a brown coat and a white undershirt.

"Ahoy me hearties," He said in an exaggerated accent. "What brings you fine ladies to this.." He gestured around the room, looking for the right word. "Place." And failing.

"Discord," Celestia said warningly, eyeing the loot sack over Discord's shoulder.

"Oh, fine." He snapped his fingers and the room went back to normal.

The pirate paraphernalia, instead of vanishing completely, appeared in the bedroom of a young colt in Ponyville, a smile appeared on his face and he whispered. "Thanks capt'n."

Back in Canterlot Discord, Luna and Celestia were on their way back to the palace. "I still think we should-" Luna never finished her sentence as she was interrupted by the rattling of a nearby trashcan.

"... What was that?" Discord asked.

"Probably a cat." Celestia said, walking over to the trash can and lifting the lid. "Come out little ki-"

Her eyes went wide as she stared at the creature inside, which, unless something was _really _wrong with nature, could _never_ be classified as a cat... or an animal. Discord and Luna peered into the trash can and gained the same dumbstruck expression as the solar princess.

"What is that thing?" Luna asked.

"It looks like something you'd make Discord." Celestia commented.

"Maybe if I had been smoking poison joke." The chaos lord replied, peering at the thing, which turned its misshapen head up at them and said.

"Trubbish?"

* * *

Scootaloo and the other crusaders stood at the threshold between Apple Bloom's house and Sweet Apple Acres. "Well, I'm going, and if you two are coming then you can follow me." She shouted before heading outside.

"Fine," Said Apple Bloom, sighing. "But only ta prove ta you that it ain't aliens."

She trotted after the Pegasus, leaving Sweetie Belle alone in the living room. She looked into the kitchen and only saw Granny Smith asleep in her rocking chair. "Why does the voice of reason always go unheard?" Sweetie said as she trotted after her friends.

After catching up with her friends, right in the middle of an argument about aliens Sweetie Belle sighed and thought. _We are going to get in so much trouble for this._As the trio walked in the direction of the Everfree.

"Exactly how far are we going to go?" Sweetie asked after they entered the part of the property that converged with the Everfree, forming a thin woodland rarely populated by anything larger than a rabbit.

"Until we find the UFO." Scootaloo said.

"Or until somepony finds us and brings us back." Apple Bloom added.

"Are we really going into the Everfree?" Sweetie asked nervously.

"Maybe," Scootaloo said. "If that's what it takes to get our cutie marks then-"

"Gallade."

"Gardevoir."

"What was that?" Apple Bloom whispered.

"Sounds like it came from over there." Scootaloo pointed towards a clump of bushes. "Come on."

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom rushed over to the shrub while Sweetie walked over, once she arrived Apple Bloom pushed some of the branches so they could see whatever was in the clearing. What they saw took their breath away. To the fillies the creatures in the clearing looked vaguely like that Minotaur that came to town. But not really.

"What are they?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Aliens." Scootaloo whispered.

"Impossible," Sweetie said. "Th-they're probably just monsters from the Everfree."

"Then why are they kissin'?" Apple Bloom asked tilting her head in confusion. Just as Sweetie was about to stutter out an unintelligible response the creature's broke their embrace and began to speak to each other.

"Gallade, Gallade Gallade _Gal _Gallade Gallade."

"Gardevoir Gardevoir Gar Gardevoir. Gar _Gar _Gar Gardevoir Gar."

"What are they sayin'?" Apple Bloom asked, ignoring the creatures as they continued to talk.

"I don't know." Scootaloo said. "I don't speak alienese."

"They're _not_ aliens." Sweetie Belle said. "They're just monsters from the Everfree."

"Ya know, ah bet that's what a lot a Ponies said about Zecora before ah proved 'em wrong." Apple Bloom said, shooting a disapproving glare at her friend.

Sweetie Belle, with a guilty look on her face tried to take back what she said. "No I just meant, it's just that they're, I didn't-"

She was cut off when the creature wearing a dress pushed the other one against the tree in front of their bush. "Gar, Gardevoir Garde, Gar Gar Gardevoir."

"Gal Gal? Gallade Gallade Gallade Gal, Gallade Gal Gallade."

"What are they doing?" Scootaloo asked, her voice just above a whisper, the slight increase in volume, and the vicinity to the creatures alerted them to their presence.

"Gallade!"

"Garde!"

The trio suddenly found themselves being grabbed by what felt like a Unicorn's telekinetic grip and being held in the air in front of the creatures.

"Aah!"

"Aah!"

"Aah!"

The creatures stared at the trio in confusion and Apple Bloom couldn't hold in her curiosity any longer.

"Gal Gallade?"

"What the hay are ya?"

* * *

Belle and Gene looked at the creatures squirming in the air. "What are they?" Belle whispered.

"I don't know, pre-evolution of Ponyta maybe?" Gene wagered comparing them to the only thing he could.

"Then why does that one have wings?" Belle asked.

"You freaky aliens better put us down right now or you'll be sorry!" Scootaloo shouted.

"...What?" Gene said.

"Just please let us go, ah p-promise we won't tell anypony 'bout ya." Apple Bloom was on the verge of tears.

"Gene, I don't think they understand us." Belle said. "Just look at them."

Gene took a closer look at the little... foals, he decided, and saw the fear in their eyes, although the little winged one, was trying to hide it. "But, if they can't understand us then,"

"They're not Pokemon." Belle finished.

"Wow... we are so lost right now." Gene said shaking his head.

"Girls... do you think they're gonna dissect us?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Ok that's enough." Gene said rubbing his hands together. "Belle can you set up the translator?"

She frowned, upset that her fun had been interrupted, but said. "Alright."

Gene noticed his partner's attitude and said. "Don't worry, when we're done here I promise," He whispered in her ear and whatever he said caused her to blush profusely.

Belle, still blushing from her lover's words, began to enter the fillies' minds, causing them to flinch and shriek in surprise, this, in turn alerted a Pegasus flying over head to their location.

"Hold on girls!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she shot into the clearing and rammed Belle.

"Ahh!" She cried as she was knocked to the ground, dropping the crusaders as her concentration faltered.

"Belle!" Gene cried as he rushed over to her side, kneeling next to her. "Are you alright?" He asked as he helped her sit up.

"Yeah." She said, rubbing the back of her head. "Whatever that was packs quite a punch." Gene glared at the blue pony who had struck Belle.

Rainbow Dash was ignoring them, busy comforting the crusaders, specifically the little Pegasus whom she was holding in her arms.

Gene cleared his throat to get her attention and, once she was looking at him, brandished his sword arms in her direction and said. "You really shouldn't have done that." And took a single step forward.

* * *

Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, and the two little Pokemon on her back, arrived at Sweet Apple Acres and were surprised when they found Applejack and Big Mac out bucking trees instead of hiding.

"Get down here ya no good filthy varmits!" Applejack shouted as she kicked the tree again.

"Applejack!" Twilight cried as she ran up to her friend. "I'm glad I found you, we have a... what are you doing?" Twilight noticed that the tree was barren of apples as was the one Big Mac was bucking, and most of the trees in the area.

"What does it look like ah'm doin'?" She asked, delivering another kick to the tree. "Ah'm tryin' ta clear out these pests before they destroy our entire crop."

"Fruit Bats again?" Twilight asked.

"Not exactly." Applejack said. With an exceptionally powerful kick the tree shook and an extremely large beetle fell out.

"Aaah!" Twilight screamed, again.

"Heracross!" It cried before opening the shell on its back and flying off.

"What was that thing?" Twilight asked, already suspecting the answer.

"No idea," Applejack said as she moved on to another tree. "Darn things just started showin' up, reckon this has somethin' ta do with Pinkie's doozy so they can't be anything good."

This time when she kicked the tree something fell out immediately, a black bug with a golden mask covering its face shot out and would have been missed entirely had it not paused to peer at the ponies before flying off, and a green creature with no arms, no legs, and, from what was visible, no mouth, fell to the ground with a thud.

"Metapod." It announced drearily, not even moving.

"Not again." Applejack said, tying one end of her lasso to it and shouting. "Mac, ah got another one of them pod things, ah'm gonna put it with the others and check on the girls."

"Applejack wait." Twilight said as she raced after her friend, Spike and Fluttershy following.

"Sorry Twi, ah can't really talk right now, got a bit of an emergency goin' on."

"I can see that, but we really need to figure out what's going on," She explained. "Especially what's with these creatures and what crashed in the Everfree."

"Well ah don't know what's up with the Everfree, but these critters," She pointed at the Metapod she was dragging behind her. "Ain't nothin but trouble, you have any idea how many of those things we've found on the propert-" For the first time Applejack noticed the Togepi and Cubone on Fluttershy's back, and she was none too happy about it.

"Shy," She said, a cold tone creeping into her voice. "What are those things?"

"Oh, this is Togepi and this is Cubone, they're my new pets."

Applejack shook her head and sighed. "Shy, ah don't think you should be keepin' those things, if they have somethin to do with whatever crashed... then they're probably not safe."

"W-what? No, they're perfectly safe, I mean, how could anything this cute and sweet be dangerous?"

She nuzzled the little Pokemon, eliciting a giggly response from both. "Cubone!"

"Togepi!"

Applejack just said. "That's what you said 'bout the parasprites."

Fluttershy fell silent and, while she didn't like it, Twilight had to agree with Applejack, these creatures' sudden appearance coinciding with the crash _couldn't _be a coincidence and, if it came to light that these things, cute they may be, were dangerous, then they would have to be rounded up and... Twilight hoped it didn't get to and.

As the group arrived at the barn Applejack opened the door and revealed the occupants, at least three more Metapods lay scattered around the room, and another two were somehow in the rafters, no less than five yellow limbless creatures covered in some kind of plated exoskeleton leaned against the wall and, in one of the corners near a window, a group of purple and white spiked balls sat piled atop each other in a pyramid.

"What are these things... doing here?" Twilight asked, deciding to get an answer other than 'I don't know' at the last second.

"Like ah said," Applejack explained. "We've been at this all day, and these things can't run off so we've been puttin' em here 'til we can figure out what ta do with 'em."

Applejack put the newest addition to the barn on top of a barrel near the door. "Now ah just have ta check on the girls and then ah gotta get back ta work"

"But Applejack," Twilight pleaded, following her friend. "We have to talk about this, I already called a meeting and everything."

"Look Twi," Applejack said, pushing open the door to her home. "Ah understand that ya want ta do somethin' but whenever Pinkie Pie is involved ah find that it's best just ta handle things at home, besides whatever crashed crashed in the Everfree so it ain't really are pro-"

Applejack stopped and looked around the room. "Apple Bloom? Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo? Where ya at girls?" When no answer came Applejack groaned and ran upstairs, leaving Twilight and Spike alone in the living room

"Wait," Twilight said worriedly. "Where's Fluttershy?"

"Calm down Twilight, Fluttershy's back at the barn, she said she wanted to talk with whatever those things were." Spike explained.

Not a moment later Applejack ran back downstairs. "Ah can't find the girls." She said, worry in her voice. "Ah think they went after whatever crashed."

"What!" Twilight exclaimed. "Why would they do that?"

Applejack stared at her friend blankly. "Why do those fillies do anything?"

Twilight face-hoofed and said. "Cutie marks."

"Exactly, now come on, ah think ah know which way they're goin'." Applejack pushed past Twilight and ran out the door, Twilight picked Spike up and put him on her back before rushing after her.

Applejack ran towards the part of the farm where the Everfree met the orchard and was solely focused on finding her little sister and the others. She was so into her focus that she almost missed a familiar voice next to her asking. "Hey AJ, where's the fire?"

Applejack turned her head and saw Rainbow Dash flying next to her. "Not now Dash." She said. "We're in the middle of an emergency." She looked down and finished quietly. "The girls are missin'."

Dash's eyes went wide and she shouted. "What!?"

Applejack shook her head and said. "Ah think they went to investigate whatever crashed."

"That's why I'm here," Dash explained "Pinkie told me to meet Twilight here about that and then she went to get Rarity. I was heading to your place when I heard you running this way."

"Well ah'm glad yer here," Applejack explained. "Ah could use some help findin' the girls, ya think you could-"

"Say no more," Dash interrupted. "Search and rescue Dash is here!"

She flew off towards the Everfree, leaving the others behind, and started searching for the Scootaloo and the other crusaders.

She was searching for less than five minutes, skimming low over the tree tops, when she heard three shrill shrieks from just ahead of her and to her left. She altered her course and ducked into a small clearing where she saw two creatures standing in front of three little fillies who were being held in the air.

"Hold on girls!" She shouted as she dive bombed the one with its hand out stretched towards the fillies and knocked it in the back of its head.

"GAR!"

"Gal!"

Rainbow Dash ignored the creatures and grabbed Scootaloo, who immediately grabbed on to her big sister figure and was put through a mixture of comforting and scolding. "What were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt! I'm so glad you're alright. Why would you worry me like that?"

"Eh hem." Rainbow Dash removed her attention from Scootaloo for a moment and turned back to the creatures and saw the more masculine one brandishing the blades on its arms towards her. "Gal Gallade." It took a single step forward. And was then hit with a blast of purple energy.

Gene's eyes went wide and he cried. "SHIT!" As he flew backwards and hit a tree.

Twilight Sparkle stepped out of the bushes with Spike on her back and Applejack behind her. "Stay away from them!"

Belle stood up and looked at her partner, who was lying unconscious on the ground, then turned her attention to the ponies and Dragon. Anger blossomed in her and her eyes glowed blue, she again stretched her arm towards the group, lifting Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Applejack into the air, knocking Spike off of the Alcorn's back, and broadcasting her thoughts throughout the entire clearing. _"You're going to regret doing that." _

Twilight's jaw dropped open and she shouted. "You can talk!?" In surprise and confusion.

_"Yes, I can talk," _She spat. _"Now, quiet while I tear into your minds."_

"Wait, what?!" Rainbow shouted.

Belle pulled Rainbow Dash closer to her and stared right into her eyes. _"What did you think was going to happen?" _She pointed the floating ponies toward Gene's still unconscious body. _"You attacked me and my mate."_

"P-please." Twilight begged. "We didn't know you could talk."

"I thought the girls were in danger." Dash added.

Belle put Rainbow back with the others and looked over them. _"You swear you were just trying to protect your young?" _She asked.

"Technically they're not our kids but yeah." Twilight explained, Applejack and Rainbow shot glares at her.

Belle sighed and set the ponies back on the ground next to the cowering crusaders and baby Dragon. _"Apologies," _She said begrudgedly, walking over to Gene and placing a hand on his forehead, focusing her powers and pulling him back to consciousness. _"I was merely-Gahh!"_

Belle slammed into the tree as a powerful force rammed into her from behind. "That's for scarin' my sister and threatening my friends." Applejack said, standing over the now unconscious Gardevoir.

Unfortunately for the mare, not all the Pokemon were unconscious. Gene's eyes blinked open and he, seeing Applejack standing threateningly over his unconscious beloved, did what, in the medical world is known as, snapped.

_"GET AWAY FROM HER!" _He screamed, activating his mental powers for the first time. Applejack was suddenly shoved backwards by an immense amount of psychic force.

Gene stood himself up and stared hatefully towards the startled Earth Pony. Applejack, seeing how dire the situation was, attempted to run back to her friends. She was interrupted when Gene whispered. _"Stop." _And shot forward grabbing the mare and using one of his blades to pin her against a tree. _"Now then, give me one good reason why I shouldn't-"_

"Enough!" Gene and Applejack both turned to see Twilight's horn light up, then they were surrounded by a purple glow and lifted into the air. "Now that I have your attention," She turned towards Applejack and said. "First off, _you _don't attack ponies... or whatever they are, when they're explaining themselves." She turned towards Gene and said. "And _you. _Don't. Hurt. My. Friends. _Ever._ Do we understand each other?"

Applejack sighed and begrudgedly mumbled. "Yes."

Gene rolled his eyes and said. "Gallade." Having lost control of his powers as his anger faded. When the ponies started giving him odd looks he quickly nodded his affirmative.

"Good, now I'm going to put you down." She pointed one hoof towards Applejack. "You get over there and comfort your sister," She pointed to Gene. "And you get over there and check on your wife."

"We're not married." He said, knowing they wouldn't understand him anyway.

Twilight placed the Pony and the Pokemon on the ground and they ran over to their respective family members. Apple Bloom ran up to her sister and buried herself in a hug. Gene knelt down next to Belle and held her tenderly. "Are you alright?" He asked as he placed a hand on her cheek.

Belle's hand weakly grasped his and her eyes fluttered open. _"Now that you're here." _She whispered weakly, a small smile blooming in her face.

Gene smiled and pulled her closer. "Don't scare me like that."

Belle broke the embrace and pushed herself upright. "What happened?" She asked, looking around.

"The orange Ponyta thing kicked you." He explained. "But don't attack her, the purple one's apparently a Psychic, and really powerful at that."

Belle turned to the group and asked. "Do we know anything about them yet?" She looked around the clearing. "Or where we are?"

"Not yet," He answered. "But I think we should go find out." He pulled his partner to her feet and the two walked over to the ponies.

"That's close enough." Applejack said, glaring at them.

_"Well," _Belle said, expanding her psychic field over the entire group. _"She seems a bit high strung."_

"Hey!" Applejack shouted. Rainbow Dash snickered but stopped when her friend glared at her. "What do ya want anyway?"

"Applejack..." Twilight said warningly.

_"We just want to talk," _Gene explained. _"Maybe figure out what's going on if we can."_

"Oh thank Celestia." Twilight sighed. "Finally, somepony with an explanation."

She looked expectantly at the pair with a slightly off putting smile. _"Oh," _Gene stammered. _"Um, sorry to disappoint you miss..." _

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, at your service." She answered.

_"Well... Princess," _Gene continued. _"Sorry to disappoint you but we have no idea what's going on here. We don't even know where we are."_

"Ugggg." Twilight groaned, she thought she had finally found an answer. "Well can you at _least_ tell me who you are?" She looked over the beings in front of her. "Or what you are?"

_"I'm Belle," _She answered. _"A Gardevoir, and this handsome Gallade here." _She kissed Gene on the cheek. _"Is Gene."_

Twilight was about to ask another question but was interrupted when Applejack rudely asked. "Could ya'll stop doin' that? Ah don't like hearin' ya in my mind."

Gene and Belle looked at each other and smiled deviously.

"Sorry, is this better?" Gene asked. Which, to the ponies, came out as. "Gallade, Gal Gal Gallade?"

"Excuse me?" Rainbow asked, confused.

"You'd rather us talk. Well, we're talking." Belle explained. "Garde. Gar Gardevoir." Was what they heard.

"Huh?" Twilight was developing a slight twitch in her right eye.

_"You can't understand us when we talk." _Belle explained. _"Which is why we're communicating like this."_

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Twilight asked.

_"Because then we would've missed the looks on your faces." _Gene said, smiling.

Applejack just glared at the Pokemon. Tension rose in the clearing and an awkward silence fell between the groups. "Anyway," Rainbow Dash said, breaking the silence. "What were you doing with the girls?" Suspicion creeping into her voice.

_"They interrupted-" _Belle stopped herself before she got any farther. _"I mean, we were trying to talk with them."_

"Wait, what were you saying before?" Applejack asked with suspicion.

_"That is between me and my mate." _She explained, accentuating the last word to get her point across. It worked. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight's eyes went wide and they all blushed.

Scootaloo had been quiet throughout the ordeal, partially from fear and partially from not wanting to draw attention to herself, finally she couldn't hold back her curiosity any longer. "What does she mean by that Dash?"

"Well Scoots you see... dangit you two!" She shouted at the Pokemon.

Gene shrugged and said. _"You asked."_

Twilight shook her head and sighed. "Ok, no more jokes and no more," She shivered. "_Personal _questions, I just want to know what's going on and where you two came from."

_"Ask away and I'll try to oblige." _Belle said.

"Alright, where did you come from?"

_"The Kalos region," _Gene said.

Twilight looked at them quizzically. "Where's that?"

Belle and Gene looked at each other. _"Umm, that's a bit difficult to answer. Where are we anyway? Hoenn? Sinnoh? Unova? Kanto? Oblivia maybe? It's definitely not Orre." _Gene asked.

Twilight stared blankly at them. "Equestria. We're in Equestria."

_"Where's that?" _Belle asked.

"I don't know how to answer that." Twilight said.

"Oh come on!" Rainbow shouted. "Where on Equus did you two come from?!"

_"Equus?" _Gene asked, confused. _"What's Equus?"_

"The planet is Equus and... oh Celestia." Twilight's eyes went wide as a realization hit her. "You two aren't from this planet."

_"Oh Arceus!" _Gene cried. _"You mean we're not on Earth anymore? How is that even possible?"_

"Told you it was aliens!" Scootaloo gloated.

"How can you not know how ya got here?" Applejack asked, still suspicious of the Pokemon. "Don't you need a spaceship or somethin'?"

"Maybe that's what crashed." Spike guessed.

Belle shook her head. _"No, we don't have a spaceship,"_

_"But I know some Beheeyem might." _Gene interrupted.

_"And we just woke up here, in this clearing." _Belle finished.

"What's a Beheeyem?" Apple Bloom asked, interrupting any questions from the adults.

_"Another type of Pokémon," _Gene explained. _"Kind of annoying actually, they've been known to abduct people and Pokémon, don't actually cause any real trouble though."_

"Pokémon?" Everyone in the group asked.

What's a Pokémon?" Twilight inquired.

_"You're kidding right?" _Gene asked. _"How can you not know what a Pokémon is?"_

"Different world, remember?" Twilight said. "Just humor me."

_"Well," _Gene started. _"Pokémon are... it's like, uh, huh, I never actually had to explain this before, Belle's a Pokémon, and so am I...now. But Pokémon come in every shape and size, some of them are actually very similar to you."_

"So, like animals?" Rainbow asked.

Belle gritted her teeth. _"No,"_ She stated coldly. _"Pokémon are NOT animals."_

The ponies all backed away slightly as the temperature seemed to drop. "What gives?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Gene placed a hand on Belle's shoulder, the two shared a glance and Belle seemed to calm down significantly. _"Calling a Pokémon an animal is... well, I suppose like calling you animals, it's an insult to their intelligence."_

"Oh, huh, sorry." Dash said sheepishly.

Twilight took a deep breath and began again. "Ok, this is getting us nowhere." Twilight complained. "Your world and our world are apparently _really _different in terms of life so comparing them is useless. Let's just head back to Sweet Apple Acres and I'll send a letter to the princesses asking for help."

"Wait, you're not bringin' those things back to the farm!" Applejack cried. "They're obviously dangerous, ah mean that one has swords on its arms." Gene did his best to hide his blades behind his back.

_"I wonder what they'd do if they saw a Scyther." _Gene said solely to Belle through their psychic link. He noticed his hat on the ground and picked it up, he brushed it off and placed it back on his head, maneuvering it over the spike that topped his new form.

Belle smiled and then, to the group before her, said. _"Well you're welcome to stand out here in the woods and ask us questions if you want."_

"Applejack..." Twilight whined, wanting to actually get some answers.

"Fine." She said begrudgedly. "But ah want you two where ah can see ya at all times."

_"Fine." _Gene and Belle pushed ahead of the poniesp but stopped and turned back. _"Which way is this farm?" _

Rainbow Dash volunteered to go ahead and lead the Pokemon back so that Applejack could glare at them from behind.

Without the necessity to answer everypony's questions Belle set her mental link just to herself and Gene. _"Any ideas?" _She asked Gene as they discussed the ponies.

_"Well they seem to be elementally inclined." _He explained. _"Like I said, I think Princess Twilight is a Psychic-Type and the wings would imply Flying, I'd bet Rainbow Dash is at least part Fighting and again Flying."_

_"How about Applejack?" _Belle nodded toward the mare still watching them from behind.

Gene thought for a moment and said. _"She could be Fighting, or Normal, or Ground or some combination there of." _He had always been good at figuring out Pokemon, and people, by watching them and how they acted. _"The little Dragon is, well, a Dragon, but he looks about as dangerous as Dratini." _Gene wasn't doubting Spike's power, actually he was overestimating it, he had trained a Dratini and knew what they were capable of.

_"Well what about the-"_

"Protect the hive!" Gene and Belle turned towards a thick grouping of trees and ducked just as something was blasted over their heads.

"What the hay!" Applejack and the others ran towards the clearing.

_"What was that?" _Belle asked, looking towards where the creature had disappeared.

_"I think we'd better find out." _The partners ran after the ponies and entered the clearing to see a large red stallion surrounded by dozens of buzzing bugs, none of them daring to attack as the stallion was currently threatening a much larger being at the center of the congregation, a being who was quite obviously the queen.


	5. Chapter 3

"Mac, what the hay is that thing?" Applejack asked, staring at the creature hovering in the air before her brother.

"No idea." He answered.

"_A Vespiquen?"_ Gene asked, walking past the multitude of Combee and, oddly enough, Beedrill, that buzzed around the clearing. _"How many other Pokémon are here?"_

"You know that thing?" Twilight asked, holding several Combee in a magic bubble.

"_Not really,"_ He explained. _"It's just another Pokémon."_

Oblivious to the mental conversation the Vespiquen turned her attention from Big Mac to the Psychic types.

"What do you want, Gallade!?" She spat. "This concerns neither you nor your mate."

Temporarily ignoring the Bug type, Gene turned to Belle.

"How did she know that?" He asked, slightly confused.

"For Pokémon there is a certain… scent, shared between the mated pair." Belle answered him. "It doesn't work if one of the mates is human, though."

"Ah, alright. Anyway," He turned back to the Bug type. "Vespiquen, you need to stop this," He gestured around the clearing at the mayhem. "These creatures have never encountered Pokémon before, they don't know-."

"Regardless!" The Vespiquen shouted, returning her attention to Big Mac. "This one attacked my hive, if the others stop now, then they may leave, but this one must be punished."

"Hang on, are you actually talking to that thing?" Rainbow Dash was flying around the clearing, being chased by several Beedrill who would occasionally fail to keep up with her agility and get caught in a tree, but more always came to take their comrades' places.

"_Yes,"_ Belle answered. _"All Pokémon can understand each other."_

"Well, what's it sayin'?!" Applejack shouted, bucking another Combee out of the clearing.

_"I have good news and bad news."_ Gene explained. _"She says that you can all leave,"_

"What's the - ugh! - bad news?" Twilight grunted, her force field becoming heavy under the weight of the dozens of Bee Pokémon in her grasp.

"_She says that since he,"_ Gene pointed to Big Mac. _"Attacked her hive, he must be punished."_

"She's on our property!" Applejack shouted. "And what do you mean 'punished'?"

Gene turned back to the Vespiquen. "Gal, Gallade, Gal?"

"Quen. Vespiquen, Vespi, Vespiquen!" Gene's eyes went wide.

"_You really don't want to know."_ He shook his head and turned to Belle. "Think you can beat her?"

"Of course I can." The Gardevoir smiled. Belle stepped forward and broadcast her thoughts to every being in the clearing._ "Vespiquen!"_ She announced. _"I hereby take full responsibility for…"_ She pulled Big Mac's name from his mind. _"Macintosh Apple's actions and words and restate them in full. I challenge you to a battle to decide the fate of this disagreement, should you win I will submit myself for any punishment you deem worthy, but if I am victorious you and your hive must submit to the demands of the Apple Family. Do you accept?"_

Every Pokémon in the clearing stopped and turned to their queen. The ponies were caught off guard by the sudden halt in action and faltered in their attacks. Dash crashed into a tree and Twilight's shield dropped as the Bug types ceased their assault.

The Vespiquen looked amongst her subjects, all of whom were watching her expectantly. "I accept your challenge, Gardevoir." She buzzed away from Big Mac and went to face Belle.

"Gene!" Twilight ran over to the Gallade. "Are you sure she can handle this?"

"_Don't worry, Belle's been in tougher situations than this." That time we faced Iris comes to mind._ He thought.

Belle and the Vespiquen stood in the center of the clearing, facing each other.

"You have the first move." Belle said.

The Vespiquen smirked. "Big mistake. Air Slash!" A compacted blade of air blasted towards Belle. The Psychic type side-stepped and dodged the attack.

She smiled and launched an immediate counterattack. "Shadow Ball!" An orb of shadow formed in front of Belle before launching towards the Bug type hitting her square in the face.

"Gahh!" Vespiquen flew backwards and fell to the ground. A moment later, her wings buzzed and she righted herself in the air.

"Fury Cutter!" She cried, slashing at Belle with her claws.

"Ahh!" Belle slid backwards but didn't fall over. "Magical Leaf!" Glowing, razor-sharp foliage flew towards the Bug type.

"Defend Order!" At that, every Combee, and many Beedrill, in the clearing dove in front of the attack, stopping it from hitting their queen.

"Hey!" Dash cried. "That's cheating!" She began to dive towards what she thought was a dishonest bug but was stopped when Gene blocked her with a bladed arm.

"_It would take longer to explain than is left in this battle, just stay back."_ Still upset Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and plopped down next to her friends to watch the rest of the battle.

"Attack Order!" Opposite of the last time, with this order every still conscious Bug type in the clearing, save for Vespiquen, flew at Belle, attacking her and covering her in a swarming heap.

"Do something!" Twilight screamed at Gene.

The former human smiled and counted. _"3, 2, 1."_

"_Dazzling Gleam!"_ The pile exploded outwards in a million pinpoints of shining light, multitudes of which shot forward and hit the injured Vespiquen.

Belle stood in the center of the clearing, surrounded by unconscious Combee and Beedrill. Vespiquen, after buzzing in the air for a few seconds, fell forward and said. "I yield, mate of this Gallade."

Belle smiled and walked over to Gene.

"And that, is that." She looked to Applejack and Big Mac. _"You may now make your demands."_

"What exactly does that imply?" Big Mac asked, still trying to wrap his head around the situation.

"_They have to do anything you ask of them."_ Belle explained. _"My best guess would be that you're going to ask them to leave. But for the record, they do produce rather delectable honey."_

Applejack was the first one to speak up. "Ah want them varmints outta here!"

"_There must be a consensus."_ Belle explained. "_And she knows that Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom are members too… apparently your family shares a similar scent."_

"You sayin' we smell?" Applejack narrowed her eyes.

"_You smell like apples,"_ She shrugged. _"It's not hard to piece together."_

"Just keep bickering, I'll be here." The Vespiquen chuckled.

"Quiet, you." Gene ordered.

"Look, can we just get these things off our property? Mac, Bloom, you agree with me right?" Applejack looked to her family expectantly.

"Ah don't know, AJ." Mac sized up the Vespiquen. "Our bees are already pretty helpful, and these ones are-"

"They were attackin' ya!" She snapped.

"_He did attack their hive."_ Gene added not-so-helpfully, earning him yet another glare from Applejack.

"_I have an idea."_ Belle said. _"Why don't I make it so you can actually talk to Vespiquen? Then you can have a discussion before coming to a decision."_

"You can do that?" Twilight asked. "Well, I guess it wouldn't be difficult. There are spells that let different species understand each other…" She nodded in understanding. "Go ahead."

Belle closed her eyes and linked the minds of the ponies and the Pokémon so that they would be able to understand each other.

"Did it work?" Apple Bloom asked, not feeling any different.

"I think so." Belle nodded. "You can understand me can't you?"

"Whoa," Dash shifted uncomfortably in the air. "How does that work?"

"It's a psychic thing." Gene explained. "You'll get used to it."

"Not likely." Applejack muttered under her breath.

"Is this getting anywhere?" Vespiquen crossed its arms and buzzed impatiently. "I have a hive to run."

"Hold your horses." Big Mac said. "You and I are gonna have a little chat."

The Vespiquen righted herself and flew forward towards Big Mac, while being slightly shorter than the Pony in actuality the size of her abdomen and the height at which she hovered gave her a formidable appearance. "What is it you wish to discuss… red Ponyta?" She was befuddled at what to call the creature before her.

"Pony." Big Mac corrected the insect, his voice dead serious. "And Ah want ta talk about what you and your swarm are doin' on my farm."

Vespiquen shook her head.

"I… honestly do not know." The queen's wings buzzed. "We were in Eterna Forest only last night. But, at some time during the night, all my workers and I lost consciousness,"

"That's what happened to us." Gene said to himself.

"And when we awoke, we were here." The Beehive Pokémon surveyed her surroundings. "Where is here?"

"You're in Sweet Apple Acres." Apple Bloom explained. "Just south of Ponyville."

"Pony-ville?" Vespiquen wondered aloud.

"We're trying to figure that out too." Gene said. "And our situation is a bit more…" He looked to his partner and sighed. "Complicated."

"So then!" Twilight's exclamation made everyone in the clearing jump. "All these creatures, the weird animals Fluttershy's been finding everywhere, and the insects the Apples have been dealing with, they're all these… Pokémon. This is very interesting; I've never seen anything like them."

"Y'know, Twi, that's great and all, but how did they get here?" the poly-chromatic pony asked.

Twilight smiled proudly and answered. "I have no idea!"

Everyone sighed and Big Mac returned his attention to Vespiquen. "Now listen Miss Vespiquen, Ah can forgive ya for attackin' me; you were defendin' your kin. But Ah gotta know, if Ah let ya stay, will ya listen ta what Ah tell ya?"

"Mac!" Applejack whined. "Ah wanted these things outta here!"

"I am honor bound to follow the will of those who defeat me, and since the Gardevoir has passed that right to your family, I must to do as you ask."

The Vespiquen bowed, and seconds later, the Combee and Beedrill did the same.

Big Mac thought for a second and then pulled Applejack and Apple Bloom into a huddle. After a few minutes the huddle broke and Big Mac walked back to Vespiquen. "Alright, we've come to a decision." Apple Bloom was smiling at her brother while Applejack was looking the other way, a perturbed look on her face. "You can stay on part of our farm. Where the orchard meets the Everfree, can't really use that place anyway, in exchange for some of the honey ya'll produce."

Vespiquen raised an eyelid. "Is that it?"

"Not quite," Mac replied. "Ya also have ta listen ta whatever the Apple Family says in terms of what you're doin' and ya can't harm any ponies while you're here."

"I obey." Vespiquen buzzed as he finished. She had expected a much harsher penalty; this just meant relocation, and a new hive was already needed since they lost the old one the night before.

Big Mac nodded with approval. "Good, now follow me, Ah'll lead ya ta where ya can stay." The large red Earth pony set off in the direction from which Applejack and the others had just come, Vespiquen and her hive following him.

"Well, that worked out better than expected." Gene commented.

"For some." Applejack whispered, assuming the Pokémon couldn't hear her.

Gene looked to Belle and they shared a mutual expression. _"She might be a problem."_

"_If she tries anything funny,"_ Belle replied. _"I doubt she'll prove to be much of a challenge."_

Belle wasn't worried for her own sake. She knew that while the pony was superior to her physically, Applejack would stand no chance against her psychic powers in an actual battle. She was worried for her partner. When he was human, Gene, while far from helpless, had been dependent on his team to get him out of any situations involving dangerous Pokémon simply because he was no match for their powers. Even though he was now a Gallade, he had no idea how to control his powers. A small smile graced Belle's face as a thought crossed her mind. _Looks like I get to teach him something new again._

"Alright, you two," Applejack nudged the Pokémon. "That's enough dilly-dallying, let's get a move on."

Complying with the Earth pony's request, Belle and Gene resumed their journey towards the farmhouse that was now visible over the treetops. Soon, the group arrived at the house and Applejack, having taken the lead as they entered the yard, blocked the doorway.

"Alright, Ah'm gonna tell Granny Smith what's goin' on so that she doesn't have a heart attack when you two come in." Applejack's eyes were hard, making even the air around her seem impassable. With one final warning glare, she trotted into the house and out of sight.

"We're not that scary, are we?" Belle turned to Twilight with a slightly befuddled expression.

"Not really, no. Granny Smith is just old and kind of frail." Twilight explained.

"Granny!" Applejack called from inside. "Ah'm back and - oh, ponyfeathers, what are those things?"

Taking that as their cue the group entered the house and walked into the kitchen. Where, to their surprise they saw not only Granny Smith and Applejack, but two Pokémon, both of which were somewhat dog-like in appearance. They had equal parts blue, black and yellow fur and three bone spikes sticking from their chests and either of their paws. Black lumps of what looked like hair fell from behind their pointed ears, and one of them was wearing a white and red helmet with matching boots that appeared to be roller skates.

"Okay… one of them is a Lucario, but the other one is… wait, is that-?" As Gene spoke up, both Lucario turned to face him, and the one in the skates smiled.

"Thank Arceus, other Pokémon." She looked herself over and then sheepishly corrected herself. "Psychic types… can one of you help me? Whatever these things are, they don't understand a word I say."

Gene instantly recognized the Lucario for who she actually was, or, he thought he did. She had the outfit, the attitude, and the voice. But she was a Pokémon. "S-sure," He stammered, hoping he was wrong. "Belle, do you think-?"

"Wait. Belle?" The skater Lucario held a paw to her chin and surveyed both Psychic types. "That Gardevoir… aha! I remember you! You're the one who challenged my gym last week, you're ah… um…" She attempted to snap her fingers, but her new digits wouldn't allow the action. "John!"

"It's Gene… hi, Korrina." The former human sighed and waited for the inevitable.

"Right, you're the one who…" Her eyes widened as she remembered the news she had received the other day, given to her by the same two Jennies that had chased down Gene and Belle in the forest. "You're-" She looked at the Gallade before her. "You're a Gallade."

Gene looked up, surprised at her response, and replied. "And you're a Lucario."

Korrina looked at her paws and squinted. "Yeah, I am, apparently."

For a moment things were awkwardly silent, then Twilight, in her inquisitive nature, broke the silence. "Yeah, I only heard one side of that conversation so… could somepony please translate?"

Belle sighed and stepped forward. She was getting tired of this.

"May I?" She held a hand towards Korrina, after a moment the Gym Leader realized what she was asking and answered.

"Oh, uh, sure, I guess?" Taking the affirmative, Belle expanded the translation link so that the ponies would be able to understand the Lucario.

"There," Belle said, slightly exhausted, making the translator was a lot harder than a telepathic link. "Now we'll all understand each other."

Applejack nodded. "Now what the hay are you two doin' in my house?" She stomped her hoof and gave the two other bipedals in the room hostile looks.

"Applejack!" Granny Smith shouted. "You mind your manners, young missy, Ah'll have you know that Ah invited these here folk inside."

Applejack looked at her grandmother in confusion. "Why?"

Granny Smith looked at her granddaughter as if it were obvious. "They looked like they needed help."

"Yeah," Korrina agreed. "We have no idea where we are, or what's going on."

"Not again." Rainbow Dash groaned. "And where are Rarity and Pinkie Pie?"

"Your friends are all out in the barn," Granny Smith answered. "Why don't ya go get 'em and we can all have a little chat."

"Yes ma'am." Applejack replied, still upset that her granny had sided with the creatures over her. She trudged out of the house, set on getting to the barn as quickly as possible, and was surprised to find Rainbow Dash and Twilight following her.

"Applejack?" Twilight asked, worry in her voice. "Are you alright? You seem kind of… upset."

"Ah'm fine, Twi." Applejack answered, her tone telling it was a lie. "It's just that all these critters are appearing outta nowhere and Ah'm the only one who-"

"Is acting like they're all monsters?" Rainbow Dash finished, earning her a glare from her friends. She threw her forehooves up in exasperation. "Hey, you know we're all thinking it!"

Applejack started walking towards the barn again. "You know, she does have a point." Twilight said, catching up to the Earth pony. Why are you acting like this? It's not like you at all."

"Ah just don't trust these Pokémon things. They ain't natural. You saw what that Belle gal can do? She shot shadows! Shadows, Twi! That ain't right."

"You mean how that Garamar… Gadahar… Belle is totally awesome and powerful?" Rainbow Dash asked giddily.

"Applejack, I'm thinking there's more to this than you not liking the Pokémon." Twilight ventured.

"Nope," Applejack shook her head. "Ah just can't help but see that every time we come across a non-pony they cause nothin' but trouble. Gilda was just a jerk, those Dogs foalnapped Rarity, those pests tried to take over Canterlot, and Discord… just Discord."

Twilight sighed and looked at her friend, seeing the logic behind her words but decided to right the wrongs. "Okay, first off just because Gilda was a jerk doesn't mean you should have anything against Griffins. Remember Gustave from the cake incident?"

"Ah don't have anything against Griffins," Applejack denied. "Just Gilda." Dash was finding it harder and harder to stop herself from yelling at them to stop mentioning her _former_ friend.

"That's fair," Twilight said. "But you should know that not all Diamond Dogs are like the ones we met. They have their own country, Canida, it's up north and Equestria has a trade agreement with them." Applejack stayed silent as Twilight continued her campaign. "And, I didn't even know this one until recently. The Changelings that attacked Canterlot aren't the only Changelings. Chrysalis and her followers were arrested by Emperor Carapace. He's the official ruler of the Changelings… and Chrysalis's grandfather."

"Wait, those pests ain't all dead?" Applejack asked in slight alarm.

"No," Twilight answered, unamused. "The Changeling Empire has their own country deep in the jungles of Hoofrica. They have a few harvesters in each country who bring love to the hive… but most of the rulers, Celestia included, are told of the infiltrators' identities, they'd use their normal forms but… like you keep saying, most ponies would see them as pests."

"How'd ya find that out?" Applejack asked, worry in her voice.

"I'm a princess now, remember?" Twilight answered with a smile. "It's my job. Celestia has been giving me almost all the information she knows over the past few weeks."

"And Discord is actually pretty cool once you get to know him." Rainbow added, remembering the pranking spree she, Pinkie, and the reformed lord of chaos had gone on once Pinkie had convinced her to give him a chance, that had made for one… unusual letter to the princess.

"And you're forgetting one key pony." Twilight said, preparing to deliver the death blow.

"Who's that?" Applejack snapped, tired of her friend's speech.

"Zecora." Applejack stopped dead in her tracks. She _had_ forgotten Zecora, not that she was actually forgetting the Zebra, she was just so used to her now that she seemed like any other Pony, minus the rhyming.

"Horseapples." She muttered, realizing she was treating the Pokémon like how Ponyville had treated Zecora for all those years. "Ya'll are right, Ah've been actin' mighty foolish... ya think Gene and Belle'll forgive me?"

She was genuinely penitent for her actions and wanted to make right by the ones she had wronged, if they would let her.

"You betcha!" Rainbow Dash shouted, slapping her friend on the back. "Those two don't seem like the type to hold a grudge… probably."

Applejack sighed and mentally berated herself for treating the new arrivals like that. She continued this in silence until she reached the barn. She pushed the door open slowly.

"Rarity! Pinkie! 'Shy! Ya'll in here?"

"Over here, darlings…" The bewildered voice of Rarity came from the corner of the barn. They all looked over and gasped at the sight. Rarity and Pinkie Pie stood, mouths agape, as they stared at Fluttershy, who stood in the center of a vortex of Butterfree, Beautifly, Dustox, and Beedrill.

"W-where did those come from?" Applejack asked in awe. "And where are all the pods?" Not one of the cocoon Pokémon from earlier was seen in the barn.

"Those are the pods." Rarity answered, cringing.

"No they're not." Twilight shook her head. "Those are completely different creatures, and even if some kind of metamorphosis occurred the shells would be here somewhere."

"That's not what we saw!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "When Rarity and I got here, we found Fluttershy talking to all these bug pod things that totally grossed Rarity out - *gasp*!" She took in a volume of air before continuing to speak. "But then after Fluttershy was doing what Fluttershy does to them for a while, they started glowing white then they changed into those things when the glowing stopped." A Butterfree landed on her head. She'd said all that in two breaths. How that was even possible, no one knew.

"She's telling the truth, darlings." Rarity turned back to the congregation around her friend. "I just have no idea how."

"Fluttershy, are you alright?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks for asking." The quiet Pegasus just smiled as one of the Beautifly landed on her head and nuzzled her with its proboscis.

"'Shy? Ah hate ta interrupt… whatever ya've got goin' on here, but we kinda need ya back at the house, sugarcube."

"Oh, alright." Fluttershy sighed. "I'm sorry everyone, but it looks like I've got to go." A resounding chorus of disappointed cries filled the barn. "Don't worry, I promise I'll come and visit you. Or you can come visit me, Cubone and Togepi could tell you where I live, couldn't you?" She turned to the as of yet unnoticed Pokémon sitting on a barrel near the front of the barn.

"Cubone!"

"Toki-prree!" The little ones seemed to explain where Fluttershy lived to the Bug types, whom nodded in understanding and each gave a goodbye hug or nuzzle to the kind mare before buzzing or fluttering out the open barn doors.

"Well that was… strange." Twilight said. "And it just gives me one more thing to ask those two when I get back."

"Well then let's get a move on!" Dash shouted, her impatience getting the best of her. "I want to see more of those cool moves!" Everypony laughed as they started back towards the house, hoping to finally get some answers.

* * *

Meanwhile, In Canterlot…

"Just hold it still, Luna!"

"Nay, We do not want to touch it! Discord!"

"No way! That _thing_ bit me, I'm staying nice and safe behind this barricade." The barricade Discord was mentioning was actually made out of pillows.

"Don't be such a foal." Celestia commanded. "Now get over here and help us contain this creature."

"You are one to talk sister." Luna glared at the elder Alicorn. "_You_ haven't come within ten feet of this thing since we found it."

"Trubbish!" The Pokémon complained as it flailed. It was not happy with its current situation at all. It had been enjoying itself in a trashcan in Castelia City when, the next thing it knew, it was being pulled from a different trashcan in a different city by three things the likes of which it had never seen and had then been shoved into a birdcage. 'The only thing on paw' as Discord had put it.

"Everypony, just stop arguing." Celestia stood in front of the creature's cage and glared at it. "We need to figure out what this is and where it came from."

"Trubbish?"

"And why it keeps saying that." Discord added, popping up from behind his barrier and joining the sisters at the center of the room, they were in one of the extra bedrooms because the librarian had ran them out of the library after seeing the creature. "I'm open to ideas."

"Well…" Celestia thought for a moment. "There's a scientist at my school. His name is Bio Chem. He might be able to figure something out about it."

Discord shivered at the mention of the name. "Don't mention him, I think he tried to dissect me, and nullify my magic, in fact I think he thinks I'm some kind of science project."

Luna smiled, remembering the stallion, but then developed a frown. "Would it not have to have DNA for a geneticist to look at it?"

"Yes but, why wouldn't this have DNA?" Celestia looked at the creature. Sure, it was… for lack of a better word, 'different', but it was still alive, and even timberwolves and cragadiles had DNA.

"Tia," Discord said, leaning towards the cage. "This thing is garbage,"

"That's not very nice, Discord." Despite its outward appearance, Celestia was not going to treat this creature any differently than she would any other animal, unless it proved dangerous.

"No, it's literally made of garbage. Watch." Discord conjured up a can of soda and, after pouring the contents on to the ceiling, threw the can into the birdcage.

"Trubbish!" The Pokémon leaped and caught the can in its mouth, it crunched happily on the aluminum the same way a foal would a candy bar.

"Alright… We are beginning to agree with Discord." Luna took a step backwards. "That is not natural. Could it have been magically animated?"

Celestia shook her head. "I already scanned it and I found no evidence of magical tampering."

Discord pulled a straw from nowhere and sucked the soda down from the ceiling, along with a few paint chips. "Then what are we goin-"

"Swa?"

Discord stopped talking and turned to the window where a small blue and white bird sat on the open windowsill. "What's that?" He pointed to the creature and drew it to Celestia and Luna's attention.

"Aww," Luna looked at the puffy thing. "I don't know, but it is adorable."

"Swablu." The fluffy winged Pokémon fluttered into the room and landed on the bed. It cocked its head, which, frankly was its entire body, and looked up at the beings before it. "Swablu?"

Luna smiled and slowly walked over to the bed, careful not to disturb the creature. "Hello little one," She cooed gently as she reached the edge of the bed, to her surprise the bird did not try to fly away, instead it looked at her curiously and again cried out.

"Swablu?"

"Luna, be careful." Celestia warned. "It could be dangerous." As if on cue the little creature took to the air and darted right towards Luna's face, where it immediately perched itself on the princess' horn and wrapped its wings around its body so it seemed to be a blue and white puffy ball instead of a cottony bird.

"Awww." Luna cried again. "Can we keep him?"

"Luna, I-"

"Please, sister?" Luna gave Celestia the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes she could, and, coupled with the tiny ball of fluff watching her curiously from her sister's horn, the solar princess crumbled.

"Fine."

"Yay!"

"But we have to get it checked out to make sure it's not dangerous, and since we already have this to take to him." Celestia picked the Trubbish in the birdcage up in her magic. "I'm going to have Bio Chem check it out."

Luna smiled and agreed, figuring that the stallion's equipment wouldn't find anything wrong with her new pet. "How could anything this cute be dangerous?"


	6. Chapter 4

Celestia and Luna stood in one of the private labs of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, watching as the rings of a machine before them spun at an increasingly alarming rate. Discord had opted out of going, fearing that the stallion running the equipment would try to dissect him again.

"Unbelievable." Bio Chem looked at the readout on the screens and shook his head. "Inconceivable." He checked a print coming from another machine. "Impossible."

Celestia shifted awkwardly as she watched him run from machine to machine. She had no idea how any of the technology worked, because, unlike Luna, who seemed to embrace new advances in science and magic, she largely kept with some of the "old ways", though some of the excitement about these advancements nipped at her, so she was beginning to give in to the urges to learn more. With the stallion completely engrossed in his work, she and Luna were basically just waiting for the results.

"Where did you say you found this one?" He asked, pointing to the Trubbish inside the machine that had now stopped spinning. His accent was vaguely Trottingham, but with an odd bit of Germane thrown in.

"In the garbage." Celestia answered.

"And this one," He walked over to the Swablu, resting on an exam table after its scan. "Just came in a window?"

"Yes," Luna said, losing patience in the science. "Now are they dangerous or not?"

"Depends." Bio Chem pulled the Trubbish from the machine and placed it on a counter.

"On what?" Celestia watched as the Trash Bag Pokémon began to eat a container of Q-tips.

"On who you're asking." Bio Chem tapped the Swablu's beak and wrote something down on a clipboard.

"Bio Chem." Celestia sighed. This always happened when she went to him for help. "Could you please just explain yourself, clearly?"

"Certainly, Princess," He set down the clipboard and began explaining. "These creatures are of course dangerous. Everything is; that one for instance," He pointed to the Trubbish, still eating Q-tips from a jar. "Is obviously dangerous if you're garbage… or allergic to several types of unknown and possibly deadly or acidic toxins."

"What?"

"And this one," He walked over to the Swablu and held up a dark brown fore hoof, which the creature quickly fluttered onto. "Is probably dangerous to insects and possibly some types of fruit." He thought for a second and then said. "I also found trace elements of Draconic DNA in it, which I can't quite explain."

Bio Chem walked over to the Princesses. "But to answer your question, partially at least, this little bird is very likely not dangerous to Ponies, Griffins, Zebras, or any life form larger than a house fly."

"Yes!" Luna grabbed the bird and placed it on her back, it again hunkered down into a small puffy ball.

"Fine," Celestia said, not having been worried about the bird anyway. "But what about the trash?"

"That," He smiled almost giddily, moving a stray strand of his spiked stark white hair out of his eyes. "Is where it gets interesting."

He rushed to one of the cupboards and pulled it open, leaning in and rummaging around until he pulled out a small metal chip. "This… thing, whatever it is, has DNA," He turned a screen towards the princesses, revealing a DNA helix much like the one on the geneticist's flank but instead of black like his cutie mark, or red and blue like his screens normally showed, this strand was purple and green. "But, in all honesty, it shouldn't. It is, from what I can tell, genetically altered and animated garbage, and since garbage doesn't have a genetic structure unless you're dumpster diving at a sushi house, that raises a whole new set of questions."

Celestia and Luna watched as Bio Chem walked over to the Pokémon, opened its mouth like one would a trash can lid, and dropped the chip in.

"Trubbish." The creature replied, happily licking its lips.

"Why'd you do that?" Luna asked, turning away from her new pet as Bio Chem turned another screen towards them revealing... a blank screen and a straight line, like on a broken heart rate monitor.

"That chip was a tracker I designed for the Dragon Migration last year, it was made to withstand lava, Dragon fire, and, if need be, Draconic digestive juices. This screen monitors its current location and condition. Tell me what you see?"

Both sisters looked at the screen, not wanting to say something stupid that they didn't know was stupid.

"Nothing?" Celestia ventured.

"Exactly!" Bio Chem's sudden exclamation made both princesses jump, and the little bird on Luna's back to dart into the lunar princess's mane for shelter. "This thing has some kind of toxins in its digestive tract, bloodstream, and pretty much every internal structure, that is more toxic than a Dragon's blood or digestive juice."

Celestia nodded her head, beginning to understand. "So it is dangerous."

"Not unless you provoke it, it appears." Or not. "It seems to have the ability to spray this toxin from its mouth or hands as a defense mechanism, but seeing as it hasn't done that then it's either less intelligent than the brain scans suggest or it doesn't feel like it's in enough danger to warrant an attack."

"And just how intelligent is it?" Celestia asked, an aching suspicion that he was once again not mentioning some important detail.

"Oh… it's sapient actually. The bird, too."

Celestia facehoofed. "Couldn't you have mentioned that earlier?"

"Not really, the brain scan was one of the last tests I administered and you were asking me about genetics, I only do neuroscience as a side thing."

Celestia was about to say something, but Bio Chem interrupted her.

"Oh, and speaking of genetics, those things share less than ten percent of their genetic code with any Equestrian species… that I have a scan of." He silently cursed the chaos god's unwillingness. "But they share a good… let's say, twenty percent? With each other. Sorry, but I'm not used to this kind of genetic structure, so the exact numbers are a bit lacking."

"What does that mean?" Luna asked as she coaxed her new friend out of her mane.

"It means what I said. They share common DNA and lack almost all Equestrian DNA."

"Bio Chem, what-?"

"Princess!" Two Unicorn solar guards and Bat Ponies burst through the door, holding yet another creature between them.

"We found this trying to sneak into the castle." The lunar guard reported.

The creature between the solar guards was brown and, statue like, in appearance, it had a head as large as its body, marked with several black lines, and green eyes that pointed almost straight down, its body was marked with four light brown dots and its legs were extremely stubby, instead of fingers ending its short arms there were three button like spots, one green, one yellow, and one red.

"What is that?" Bio Chem rushed past the Alicorns and over to the creature. "Hello," The Earth pony said with a smile. "What are you, then?"

The creature looked up at the stallion and, to the surprise of all, spoke.

_"My name is Professor Juniper..."_ She looked down at her new hands. _"and I'm supposed to be human."_

* * *

Applejack and the others arrived back at the house to find Granny Smith, Spike, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Gene, Belle, Korrina, and Korrina's Lucario, sitting in the living room. With Gene and Belle explaining what had happened on the way over.

"-and after your grandson took the hive to where he said they could stay, Applejack led us here." Gene looked to the group who had just entered the room and smiled.

Granny Smith soon took notice and smiled as well. "Good, now that we're all here we can finally get some answers."

"Just a minute, Granny," Applejack stepped forward, walking closer to the Psychic pair. Gene and Belle were expecting her to say something else hurtful or rude. "Ah want to apologize ta you two," They looked at her in shock. "Ah haven't been treatin' you like Ah should, Ah was treatin' you like you weren't ponies… um, Ah think you get what Ah'm sayin'. I judged ya'll too quickly cause Ah was all paranoid due ta Pinkie's doozy, but that ain't an excuse. Ya'll seem like right kind folk, and Ah hope ya can forgive me."

She held a hoof towards Gene with a sorry expression on her face, Gene looked at her for a second, then smiled and grabbed her hoof, shaking it and saying. "Apology accepted."

Applejack smiled and turned to Belle. The Gardevoir stared at her for a moment, then sighed. "Apology accepted."

Granny Smith chuckled and said. "Good ta see everyone's gettin' along, now how about some answers?" Despite her calm demeanor, the elder mare was actually rather curious about the creatures currently in her home, and apparently under her employ. "Now these two have filled me in on what's happened since ya met them, 'bout Pokémon and the bees and all, but they wanted to wait until we were all here ta answer any more questions, and since they have some themselves, Ah figured it would be best ta let a princess handle the proceedings and whatnot."

Twilight's eyes went wide, partially from excitement and partially from nervousness, at the prospect of conducting diplomatic proceedings with the first extra-Equestrian life forms ever discovered. _What if I say something wrong and offend them? Is there a proper greeting? What about all the different species? How can I-?_

"Princess? Princess? You alright?" Gene waved a bladed arm in front of Twilight's face, causing her to return to reality as well as flinch back at the sight of the appendage.

"Sorry." Gene apologized sheepishly. "You got really quiet all of a sudden and you were starting to hyperventilate."

"It's alright," Twilight took a deep breath and remembered her princess lessons, she and the others took various seats around the room, Fluttershy placed Cubone and Togepi on the ground near her hooves. "So… do any of you have any titles that we should address you by?"

The four Pokémon that were the subjects looked at each other, mostly with Gene looking to Korrina, who shrugged.

"Not really," Gene shook his head. "Korrina's a Gym Leader but that's not like a princess or anything."

"I am a marchioness in the Battle Chateau," Korrina explained with a smile. "But that's just for battles, no real world implications."

Twilight nodded and filed the phrases, 'Gym Leader' and 'Battle Chateau' for later use.

"Mind if I ask something?" Gene ventured.

"Not at all." Twilight smiled, hoping the question would be about Equestria, or magic, or Equus.

"Why does that pony have a Togepi and a Cubone?" Twilight barely hid her disappointment as she answered.

"Fluttershy found them, and what I'm guessing were a lot of other Pokémon this morning, those two are just sensitive from what I've heard."

Gene nodded and smiled outwardly, inwardly, however, was a different story. _"A Cubone acting all sensitive? That's not going to be a pretty subject."_

_"No it's not,"_ Belle agreed through the link she had set up. _"But we agreed not to lie to them unless absolutely necessary."_

_"Poor little guys."_ Gene sighed in resignation. _"We'll talk to them later."_

The conversation took place almost instantly, leaving no silence between Twilight's answer and the next question which, surprisingly, came from Fluttershy who, upon entering the house, had tried to make herself seem as small as possible, probably due to the intimidating stature of the Lucario pair and Gene's more… hazardous features.

"I have a question."

Belle, sensing the mare's discomfort, answered as gently as possible. "Go ahead, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy shifted nervously. "Um, you see, Togepi and Cubone were acting, sort of depressed when I found them, and Cubone still seems to be having some problems… do you have any idea why?"

"Crud." Korrina cursed under her breath.

"Well, you see," Gene started nervously. "Cubone have an… unpleasant history in our world, but that might not be it! He could be missing his Trainer, or something."

"C-could you ask him? I mean, if that's not too much trouble. Twilight told me you can understand Pokémon on the way over."

"S-sure." Gene turned to Korrina and Belle, both of whom had nervous expressions, then directed his attention to the little Pokémon. "Cubone?" He said, attracting the Ground type's attention. "W-would you mind telling me why you're sad?" _Please don't be it. Please don't be it. Please don't be it._

"I-I-I m-miss mommy.' The little creature said with a sniffle. _Crap._ Cubone went from sniffling to crying softly and Fluttershy picked him up, cradling him in her hooves she looked at Gene with alarm.

"What happened? What did you do?" There was clearly anger in her voice and Gene hoped to avoid any kind of confrontation.

"I just asked the question, I swear." He said holding up his hands. "It's the answer that's the problem."

"Well what's the answer?" Rainbow Dash looked at him in confusion.

Gene sighed and hung his head. "He misses his mommy." There was silence in the room until Applejack broke it.

"W-what do you mean?" She had a sneaking suspicion at the Gallade's meaning but wanted to hear it herself.

Belle decided to answer the question. "Do you have poachers here, Applejack?"

Fluttershy looked up at the mention of poachers and answered. "P-poachers, you mean those meanies who, who… oh no." The realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

"I'm afraid so." Belle looked to the little creature crying into Fluttershy's shoulder, she used her powers to block what she was about to say. "I've temporarily blocked Cubone's…" A second thought and she did the same to Togepi. "And Togepi's hearing to say this." The Gardevoir steeled herself. "Cubone's mother… was likely killed by poachers."

For a moment, no one spoke, then Twilight spoke. "Girls, Spike, could you go upstairs for a moment? I don't want you to hear this."

The group complained and in the end Belle just put a cone of silence on them as well.

Without the danger of scaring the children, Twilight asked her next question. "You said history, what did you mean?"

Korrina spoke up. "Cubone's mother, a Pokémon called Marowak, are often hunted for their pelt and bones, or rather, most of their bones, at least."

"Wh-who would do such a thing?" Fluttershy was part scared, part angry, and part ready to burst into tears.

"Some terrible humans," Korrina explained. "A group called Team Rocket really started it a couple of decades back but it's still happening today, despite the authorities' best attempts to stop it."

"Humans? Are they another type of Pokémon?" Twilight, while horrified with the facts, was morbidly interested in the world from which the Pokémon came.

"No," Korrina said. "Not Pokémon."

"Then what are they?"

Korrina looked Twilight straight in the eyes. "I'm a human."

"Korrina!" Gene snapped, he thought she was going to keep that a secret.

"Sorry Gene, but I'm explaining this situation completely," She looked at him, a knowing look in her eye. "How else are we going to get back to normal?"

Gene fell silent as the ponies looked between them. "Ah thought you called her a Lucario or somethin'?" Applejack was more than slightly confused at the turn of events.

"Well she is a Lucario…" Gene rolled his eyes.

"I'm supposed to be human." Korrina turned to him with an edge in her voice. "Or did you forget that you're one too?"

"Alright, somepony better start makin' sense soon." Applejack was practically shouting at this point.

"Gene and I," Korrina explained. "Were humans back on Earth, but now we're Pokémon."

"So… you're the ones who-" Belle was actually the one who cut Fluttershy off.

"I, as one who has always been a Pokémon, can personally assure you that neither Korrina nor Gene have ever done anything as barbaric as the situation with Cubone."

"CAN SOMEPONY TURN THIS THING OFF NOW?" Scootaloo shouted, Belle removed the cone of silence from the fillies, the Pokémon, and Spike.

"Which, I suggest, we discuss at a later date."

"Alright," Twilight was trying to keep calm as the room rapidly descended into chaos. "You two, stop arguing and explain yourselves."

Korrina smiled, still watching Gene. "Sorry, Princess. You see, Gene and I are actually humans and we have somehow been transformed into Pokémon."

"How?"

Korrina shrugged. "Probably the same way we got here."

"Well…" Twilight was about to ask why no one had mentioned that particular subject earlier, but realized, from the Pokémon's reactions, that the subject was probably very touchy. However, she did need an answer. "This seems like a pretty important detail. Why didn't you mention it before?"

Gene looked at Twilight, then at Belle, then Korrina, who wouldn't meet his gaze. "I… it – look, it's really personal for me, okay?" He knew he would have to answer it eventually, he just didn't want to do it in front of so many.

Twilight seemed to realize this and decided to drop the subject. "Alright, we'll talk about it later, but this whole thing has brought up two really important questions."

"Actually I think there are more like seven or something by now." Rainbow Dash commented from the couch.

"No," Pinkie tapped a pen to a clipboard that she had pulled from somewhere. "There're about five. I've keeping track."

"The question is," Twilight said, ignoring her friends. "How did you get here? And how did you get transformed?"

"That's two of the five." Pinkie smiled and crossed something off a checklist.

"Is there anything you can think of, anything at all, that could have caused this to happen?" Twilight asked, hoping for a straight answer.

Gene, Belle and Korrina looked at each other, scratching their heads and generally being lost. That is, until Gene remembered an old legend he had heard in the Sinnoh region. "Oh, Arceus," He muttered aloud. "The legendaries."

* * *

Deep in the Everfree Forest, beyond the hut of a Zebra herbalist, beyond the Ancient Castle of the Alicorn Sisters, beyond the cave of a forest-dwelling dragon, there sat a temple. It hadn't always been there, but it had still been around long enough to send a clear warning to all who came near it. Enter at your own risk. It had arrived a little after breakfast.

_"Lord Arceus?"_ Articuno sat beside her siblings as she waited for the god's next announcement.

Arceus turned his attention away from the strings of destiny he had been studying and turned to the ice bird. _"Yes, Articuno?"_

_"What exactly are we waiting for?"_ A murmur of agreement went up from the assembled Pokémon.

_"Not much, really. I've been watching several groups, one very close to here, and am trying to piece together what the outcome of this situation might be."_ Predicting the future was no easy task, even for a god.

_"Then can we leave?"_ Hoopa tapped the table impatiently.

_"Yesss,"_ Zygarde hissed. _"Thisss forest is in tune with chaoss, I wish to cleanssse it."_

Arceus looked at his family and sighed, he knew letting them all leave would only cause problems._"Zygarde you may begin clearing this forest. Shaymin, go help him."_ Shaymin had reverted to her earth form during the transfer, but was happy to oblige, she followed Zygarde as he slithered out of the temple. _"I can't let you all leave just yet. Mass hysteria would ensue."_

Several of the legendaries groaned at the announcement. _"But I believe that allowing some of you to leave might be fortuitous, check the state of the world and whatnot. Suicune, Mew, Deoxys, I want you three to begin this. Try to stay hidden for now if you can."_

The Mew and Suicune smiled and Deoxys smiled on the inside as the three made their way out of the temple. _"And Mew."_ Arceus said through a mental link between them. _"Be careful, sweetie."_

Mew giggled and disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Arceus and forty-eight other legendaries alone in the ancient temple. _"Anyone know any good jokes?"_ Hoopa asked, electing another groan from the group.

Arceus turned his attention away from his family and back to the strings of fate, and back to Sweet Apple Acres.

* * *

"So, these legendary Pokémon," Twilight tried to summarize what she had just been told. "Are sort of like gods in your world?"

"Some of them more so than others," Belle explained. "But yes."

"And a few of these legendaries,"

"Mostly Arceus," Gene interrupted.

"Might have enough power to cause all of this?" The princess gestured around the room at the Pokémon, and humans in Pokémon form, currently in the magical land of Equestria.

"If anything on Earth has enough power to cause this it would be Arceus." Belle looked to her mate.

"But Arceus is supposed to be locked in another dimension, and besides." Gene said, spreading his arms wide in annoyance. "Why would a god do something like this?"

"I can think of a god who might do this for fun." Twilight Sparkle suddenly remembered something she was supposed to do. "Oh, darn it! Spike, I need you to write a letter to Princess Celestia telling her what's going on."

"On it… does anyone have some paper?"

"Hang on." Applejack trotted into the kitchen and returned a moment later with a piece of parchment.

"Thanks." Spike began to summarize the current situation for the solar princess, the Pokémon, the humans, the possibility of the legendaries. "There." He rolled up the paper and held it in front of his jaw.

Korrina looked at the little Dragon with confusion. "What are you-?" The Pokémon's eyes went wide as Spike blew fire on to the letter, which collected in a puff of smoke and flew out a window. "Doing?"

Twilight saw the expression on the Lucario's face and laughed. "Don't worry, that's how I send letters to the princess."

"By burning them?"

"Yes."

Korrina decided not to question it any further, figuring that she wouldn't have to get used to the inexplicable world of Equestria. Maybe this Princess Celestia would be able to do something. She looked down at her hands – paws – and sighed. She really hoped she could.

"Twilight," Spike said. "We should probably head to the library, the princess will probably want to meet us there."

"Good idea, Spike." Twilight stood up. "I need you four to come with me," She pointed to the Pokémon. "Girls, you should probably come too." The former Elements of Harmony nodded, Fluttershy picked Togepi off of the floor and placed her next to the sleeping Cubone on her back. Twilight then turned to the CMC's. "You three are going to stay here, and actually stay this time, alright?"

"Yes, Princess Twilight." Normally Twilight would've told them that they didn't have to call her that but for the situation, it seemed oddly fitting.

"Granny, you'll keep an eye on 'em right?" Applejack looked to her grandmother expectantly.

"Of course Ah will," Granny Smith looked down at the fillies and smiled. "They can help me in the kitchen, Ah'm makin' apple pies for dessert. And ah expect all'a ya ta be back for dinner."

Applejack chuckled. "We'll try, Granny."

The ponies said their goodbyes and left the farmhouse, with the Pokémon following behind them.

As they walked Belle managed to spot several Pokémon hiding amongst the trees. A Scyther was sound asleep in the upper branches, a Graveler curled up along the roadside, and a Kecleon was attempting to camouflage itself. But something in the corner of Belle's eye caught her attention, she turned and saw a light pink cat-like face watching her from behind a tree, but once she blinked it was gone.

"Belle?" Gene noticed his partner's distraction. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, I just thought… never mind. Just my mind playing tricks on me." Gene wasn't completely convinced but let the subject drop.

While Gene was still upset with Korrina for bringing up that situation back at the house, he understood that it had been ultimately unavoidable. "So," He said to the group of Pokémon. "How many Pokémon do you think got transported, and how many used to be humans?"

"No idea," Korrina looked to her partner. "Lucario, can you see anything?"

The Aura Pokémon sighed and spoke for the first time since explaining himself to Granny Smith. "It is… hard to tell, Korrina. The energies of this world are different than our own, and these ponies have auras like nothing I've ever seen, the world's energy is much richer than Earth's… and oddly enough, your own auras," He looked to his Trainer and Gene. "Have already begun to change from human to that of Pokémon."

"Is that good or bad?" Korrina asked.

"It's not exactly either, I've just never seen something like this before." Lucario shrugged.

The group fell silent for a while but the ponies were still discussing the matter. "What exactly do you think's going to happen here?" Rainbow Dash flew lazily alongside her friends.

Twilight sighed for what seemed like the millionth time today. "I don't know. I'm hoping the princesses will be able to do something, but in all honesty, I have no idea."

Nopony spoke. They were all so used to Twilight coming up with a plan, whether it went badly or not, but now the mare seemed utterly distraught at the prospect of not having a clue what to do.

While everypony mulled over what to say next, Togepi, still sitting on Fluttershy's back, turned towards a grove of trees. "Toki?" She looked quizzically at the apple trees for a moment, listening, then smiled and jumped off of Fluttershy's back, she began to waddle towards the woods but was interrupted when Fluttershy caught her.

"Now, sweetie," She said to the squirming Pokémon. "You can't go running off like that, I don't want you-"

"Vaporeon!" Fluttershy looked up but was too late to dodge the blue blur that tackled her and knocked her to the ground.

"Fluttershy!" The girls and Spike ran back to their friend and the Pokémon rushed forward. Cubone, who had gotten off of Fluttershy when she went to catch Togepi, was crying again.

Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked up at the half-cat, half-fish face glaring down at her. "Vaporeee…" Fluttershy hid behind her hooves as the creature growled at her.

"Toki-preee!" The Vaporeon suddenly looked up, all hate gone from its stare, and rushed over to the little Pokémon.

Belle and the other Pokémon managed to reach the Vaporeon before Twilight and her friends.

"Oh, I was so worried!" the Vaporeon cried, holding Togepi.

"I'm sorry, Misty." The Togepi whispered sweetly.

"Misty?" Gene and Korrina both jumped at the name. Korrina because she knew of the Kanto gym leader, and Gene because he had battled her once while competing in the Kanto league.

Misty looked up just as the ponies arrived, Rarity and Pinkie began to comfort Fluttershy while Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack ran to where Misty and the other Pokémon were.

"Explain." Twilight ordered, eyeing the entire group. "Now."

Gene sighed and began explaining. "Twilight, everyone, this is Misty. She's a Vaporeon but, like us she used to be human."

"Wait, you used to be human too?" Misty asked in amazement.

"Yes," Korrina answered. "I'm Korrina, a Gym Leader from Kalos, and this is Gene."

"What'd she ask you?" Dash looked down at the Water type.

"She was surprised that we used to be human." Gene explained.

"Well why'd she attack Fluttershy?" Applejack asked.

"I was _trying_ to get Togepi, when I saw your friend holding her I kinda freaked out, sorry but you wouldn't believe the day I've been having."

"Yes, they would." Belle replied. "She was worried that Togepi, who is one of her Pokémon by the way, was in danger."

"From Fluttershy?" Twilight deadpanned.

"What's going on?" Misty wondered aloud.

"It's a long story, and this is confusing. Belle, can you do that thing you did to me so we can have one conversation?" Korrina looked at the Psychic type and smiled.

"Fine." Belle extended her arm towards Misty and reached into her mind, she was already supporting Gene's, Korrina's, Lucario's and her own translator but she figured she could handle one more.

The former human looked up at the Gardevoir. "What are you doing?" The translator happened to activate halfway through the question. "Va, Vap-you doing?"

"W-what's going on here anyway?" Misty looked up at the ponies nervously.

Gene decided to give Misty the quick version of their situation. "Hi, I'm Gene, I actually battled you once a few years back but that's not important. As for your question… we're on Equus, which is apparently another planet populated by these guys," He gestured to the ponies before them, Pinkie Pie waved. "Who are called ponies, we don't really have any idea what happened or why we're Pokémon but we're going to a meeting with the rulers of Equestria, that's this region, and hoping that they can help us, also," He smirked. "Have you gotten shorter?"

Misty's mind took a moment to process the info dump it had just received… then she registered what might have been an insult. "Hey!" Gene just smiled.

* * *

Princess Celestia was no stranger to the odd and unusual, she had been around for over a thousand years and experienced many things she could not, to this very day, explain. But drinking tea in a high tech lab with her little sister, an Earth pony geneticist, and an alien from another world… now that was new.

"So Professor," Bio Chem said as he sipped his tea. "You were working in your lab, late one night, researching… Pokémon?" The Pokémon professor nodded in affirmation. "Then you remember falling asleep and when you woke up you were in the royal gardens?"

_"In a new body, yes."_ Professor Juniper was not very happy about her current situation, she was a lost Beheeyem, a confused Beheeyem, a scared Beheeyem, and all in all, a Beheeyem.

"Ah, yes, you mentioned that you were a… what was it called, a human earlier? What exactly do you mean?"

_"I mean I was a human, and now I'm a Pokémon."_ She looked down at the cup of tea in her hands, which, due to her new body lacking any form of mouth, she couldn't drink. _"I've somehow changed into a Beheeyem overnight."_

"Well then!" Bio Chem exclaimed. "You've come to the right place, Bio Chem's the name, genetic research and DNA modeling is my game." The stallion ran off to gather equipment, leaving the princesses and the Pokémon alone.

_"Should I be worried?"_ Juniper asked the princesses, fearing that she was about be dissected.

Celestia laughed and answered. "No, Bio Chem can be a little eccentric at times but he's never physically harmed anyone."

_"What about mentally?"_

Celestia shrugged. "He once scared a pair of Unicorns so badly they passed out, he was testing a new form of magical nullifier and drained the magic from the entire room." The princess might have come up with more examples but as it was a wisp of smoke flew into the room and solidified in front of her.

Celestia caught the scroll in her magic and began to read it. As she did her eyes began to widen and, noticing this, her sister leaned over to her and asked. "Is everything alright, sister?"

"Luna… it would appear that these creatures," She pointed to the Swablu perched on Luna's horn, and the Trubbish was resting peacefully in a waste paper basket nearby. "Are not an isolated incident." The solar princess stood up suddenly, her sister copied her. "We must get to Ponyville at once."

She looked to Juniper, who had a very puzzled look on her face and said. "I apologize Professor Juniper, but my sister and I must be off, I leave you in capable hooves."

The sisters left the room, Luna taking Swablu with her, and leaving Juniper alone with a sleeping Trubbish and an Earth Pony who was still looking for the right tools.

"Professor!" He called from a supply closet. "Do you think your skin is softer, as hard, or harder than diamonds?"

At that point, Professor Juniper started wondering if her new form knew any moves, and if Teleport was one of them.


	7. Chapter 5

Twilight sighed as she levitated the last book back onto the shelf. Since she had run out earlier that morning in the middle of re-shelving day, she had been forced to quickly put the books back, out of order. She hated that.

The group had arrived at the library without any trouble, since everypony was still hiding, nopony had even stopped them to ask about the Pokémon. Upon arrival, Twilight had remembered the mess she had left and excused herself so she could quickly clean up. "Done." She sighed dejectedly as she opened the door to let the others in.

"So this is an actual tree?" Misty asked as she awkwardly plodded into the room. She still wasn't use to walking on four legs, or with a very large fish-like tail upsetting her balance. If anything, she thought she'd enjoy being a Water-type Pokémon. She did love Vaporeon; back on the Pokémon world, she'd been searching for an Eevee to evolve into a Vaporeon for her Gym team. She even had a Water Stone ready. Togepi waddled alongside her.

"Yes, it is." Twilight answered as she ushered the others in.

"This kinda reminds me of Valerie's Gym in Laverre City." Korrina said as she entered the house. "Just, more books, less Gym."

"What's with all the gyms in your world?" Rainbow Dash asked, settling in one of the reading chairs. "Are a lot of you humans out of shape?"

Gene chuckled. "No, well some are, but not the majority. Pokémon Gyms are places where Pokémon trainers can go and test their skills against a powerful trainer called a Gym Leader."

"Like in a wrestlin' match?" Applejack looked at the Pokémon doubtfully.

"No, more like a… do you have martial arts here?" Gene needed something to compare Pokémon battling with.

"Heck yeah, we do!" Rainbow Dash smiled. "I happen to be a black belt myself."

Gene nodded. "Well think of Pokémon battling as a smaller version of a martial arts tournament."

"So the Pokémon… test their skills against each other? Like Belle and that… Vepis – Vequi – what was it?" Twilight asked.

"Vespiquen." Gene corrected her.

"Yeah, I get that, but where do humans come in?"

"The humans direct the Pokémon, you know tell them what moves to use, basically come up with some sort of strategy." Korrina explained.

"But why would they need to do that?" Fluttershy asked, not liking the idea of the sweet little Pokémon back at her cottage fighting.

"Because… that's what a Pokémon Trainer does." Korrina shrugged. "They train their Pokémon so they become stronger."

"You mean like my martial arts teacher?" The rainbow pegasus asked.

"Sort of." Misty answered. She and Togepi had curled up on a pillow near the foot of the coach. "It's more cooperation than that, you have to trust your Pokémon to do what they think is best, even if they don't always listen to what you say, and they have to trust you to come up with the best strategy."

Twilight nodded, satisfied with this answer, but something about the way she worded it drew her attention. "What do you mean your Pokémon? You've said stuff like that before but what do you mean? Like partners?"

"Yeah." Gene answered, smiling at his mate. "Partners."

Belle smiled back at him.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Okay, how about when the… Trainer and Pokémon aren't in a relationship?"

"Still partners." Korrina answered, smiling at Lucario. "We work together to face whatever challenges come our way."

"And travel." Misty added, fondly remembering her travels. "We go on adventures together, meet new people."

"Alright, but one more thing." Twilight turned to Belle and Gene, sitting together on the couch. "You didn't say anything while Belle was battling, why is that?"

"Well for one thing, I didn't want to complicate the battle since Vespiquen didn't know I was human." He thought for a moment, then continued. "And Belle and I have been together for years, Princess, I trust her to know what to do, and it's a great strategy since other Trainers don't know what's coming, although I can't use that in official battles." He smiled as he remembered the first time he had met Belle, all those years ago.

Twilight smiled and nodded, but still she wondered what Gene was hiding.

"So," Korrina looked around the room. "When do you think these princesses are going to get here?"

"I don't know." Twilight replied, looking out the window. "The royal chariot usually takes about twenty minutes or so, they could fly here themselves in half that time, or they could–"

A blinding light erupted from the center of the room, causing everyone to look away and several of them to scream in surprise. When the light finally subsided the room's occupants looked back to see that the princesses had arrived.

"–do that." Twilight finished redundantly.

Luna blinked once, clearing her eyes of the glare from her sister's teleportation, and saw the strange collection of creatures scattered around the room. "Sister…" Luna eyed Gene's arm blades nervously.

The Gallade noticed the stare he was getting from the Alicorn and once again hid the blades behind his back, cutting open the back of the couch as he did. He smiled sheepishly and apologized. "Heh, heh, sorry, Princess."

Celestia raised an eyebrow at him, as if confused. "Princess!" Twilight ran over to her mentor and hugged her. "I'm glad you're here! This day has been insane; I even had to skip re-shelving the library!"

Celestia chuckled. "It's good to see you too Twilight, but there are more pressing matters to attend to." She turned her attention to the Pokémon. "Are these the Pokémon?"

"Yep," Korrina answered, leaning against one of the book shelves. "That's us, two Lucario, a Gallade, a Gardevoir, a Vaporeon, a Togepi, and a Cubone. Three of whom used to be humans."

Celestia again looked in confusion at the Pokémon. "I thought you said they could speak."

Twilight looked up at the Princess quizzically. "They are speaking… in some way or another. Belle had to cast a translation spell so we could understand them."

"It wasn't a spell." Belle replied. "I'm supporting a translator using my psychic powers, whatever we say goes through me and is automatically translated before being transferred to your minds so you think you're hearing your native language."

Twilight turned to Celestia with a smile. "See?"

"Twilight Sparkle," Luna stepped forward. "Perhaps you are mistaken, but whatever language that was, it was not Equish."

"What?" Twilight deadpanned in confusion. "But Belle just explained what she was doing! It's a psychic translator! This is so weird."

Realization hit the princesses as Twilight began to wonder about the Pokémon's powers. "Did you say psychic?"

"Um, yes?"

Celestia nodded. "That explains it."

"Explains what, Princess?" Twilight asked.

Celestia looked at the newest little Alicorn. "You see, Twilight, over the years Luna and I have studied how magic can affect not only the body, but also the mind. And, being rulers of an entire country, we set special wards to defend our minds from any and all outside intrusion, meaning that your friend's mental abilities will not be able to affect us."

"Well, that makes this a whole lot more complicated." Gene slumped in his seat and his blades slid down with him, tearing open more of Twilight's couch before he pulled them out. "Sorry."

Twilight sighed. "It's fine, just watch where you point those things." Gene nodded and smiled sheepishly at her. She then turned back to the princesses and decided to repeat what Gene had said. "This makes everything a lot more complicated."

"That is not necessarily true." Luna countered the purple princess. "We will simply cast our own translation spell upon them, so that we may understand what they say."

"Those don't normally last very long," Twilight remarked as she remembered studying the spells. "But it's all we've got."

"Excellent." Luna lit up her horn. "Hold still." Her magic exploded in a small shock wave. The wave traveled throughout the library before dissipating as it reached the far wall. While the ponies and Spike felt nothing from the magic, the Pokémon felt something ripple across their skin, as if they had been hit with a blast of warm air.

"What did she do?" Korrina asked.

"That was a simple translation spell." Twilight explained. "It worked, right?"

Celestia smiled and nodded. "Yes, we can understand them now, although as you said the spell will fade before long, and I don't know how long it will last on these Pokémon."

"Well then, we should get started." Gene stood, partially to avoid ripping the couch again. "Greetings, Your Highness, my name is Gene, this is Belle." He gestured to his mate.

"I'm Korrina, and this is Lucario." The gym leader pointed to her partner.

"And I'm Misty," The Vaporeon introduced herself. "And this little cutie is Togepi."

Celestia smiled. "It's good to meet you all." She looked around the room at the various creatures. "I wish we had more time to talk, but I'm afraid we don't have time for idle chit-chat." She turned back to Twilight. "You said you might have a lead on what's causing this?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes, but Gene's actually the one who brought it up."

"It's just a possibility." He explained, not wanting to breathe too much hope into this idea. "But it's possible that the legendary Pokémon have something to do with it."

"Legendary Pokémon?" Luna asked. "What makes them legends?"

The look on Belle's face became deadly serious. "They are immortal, one of a kind, immensely powerful beings who control the forces of the universe."

The princesses looked at each other, then Luna said. "Go on."

The shock on the Pokémon's face was evident. "'Go on?' Did you not hear what I just told you?"

"No, no," The Princess dismissed the notion with a wave of her hoof. "We just want to know what these creatures are capable of."

"There are like fifty-something of them," Gene added. "And they do a lot of different things. Some control fire, water, and other elements, but some control forces like time, space, and order."

Luna was about to say something, possibly about her own powers, but her sister interrupted her.

"A being who controls order?" A devious smile appeared on her lips. "Do tell."

* * *

"_Dragon Pulse!"_ A shock wave blasted through the forest, flattening several trees as it traveled. A lone Timberwolf pounced from its hiding place amongst the shrubbery. _"Enough, Ssshaymin, thisss isss your area of expertissse, do sssomething."_ Zygarde slithered off into the foliage and left the Grass type to deal with the creature.

"_Typical,"_ Shaymin stepped in front of the wolf, stopping it from pursuing the Order Pokémon. _"He gets bored and leaves me to clean up."_ She remembered the occasions on which she had been forced to work with him to clean up the world. She began to release the special pollen from the flowers that grew on her back. As the pollen wafted over to the Timberwolf the creature calmed and ceased its assault. _"Good, I wasn't sure if you were a plant or a living creature."_ Shaymin walked over to the wolf and examined it. _"Hmm, I think I'll keep this one. It might be interesting."_

Shaymin bade the creature to travel to the Hall of Legends and wait for her outside, she could keep it in her room there until later. With the Timberwolf out of the way, Shaymin followed Zygarde deeper into the forest. Originally, the Order Pokémon had been using his powers to rectify the Everfree, and the sections he had converted were now more akin to the Eterna Forest that Shaymin called home. _Use to call home,_ She corrected herself.

While Shaymin had faith in Arceus, she wasn't one hundred percent sure that this was the right course of action. She would have preferred to use her own powers to return the world to its original, unspoiled state. Shaymin had been helping by using her power over nature to reshape the flora so it looked less twisted. But after a short while Zygarde said he felt something that _extruded_ order, and had then began tracking the force to its source, then they had run into the Timberwolf.

When Shaymin finally tracked down her fellow legendary she found him staring down the side of an enormous canyon. _"It isss down there."_ He said. _"I feel order there."_ He looked down the side of the crevice and sighed, he began to use his serpentine form to slowly make his way down the cliff face wrapping around various roots and outcroppings. Shaymin looked around the edge of the canyon and sighed.

"_Zygarde?"_ Shaymin said in slight exasperation.

"_Yesss?"_

"_You do realize there are stairs right over there?"_ Zygarde looked to his right and saw the staircase leading to the bottom.

"_...Yesss."_ He lied, slowly making his way over to them. Shaymin sighed and began her own descent. This was another usual whenever she was with him; he was too serious, slightly absentminded, and overall, too sure of himself, but he was her best friend in the world.

When the two legendaries finally made it to the bottom of the cavern they found themselves in front of a large cavern from which a strange blue light emanated from within. _"What is it?"_ Shaymin asked.

Zygarde smiled, baring his pointed fangs. _"Only one way to find out."_ He slithered inside and Shaymin followed, as they came around a bend in the cave they were greeted by a blinding flash of blue light, and as the light faded they saw what Zygarde had sensed.

"_Whoa."_

* * *

"So this… Arceus. He is the ruler of your world?" Celestia asked partway into the discussion.

Gene chuckled.

"No, Arceus hasn't been seen in millennia. Some say he's actually a myth, but I don't think so. He's supposed to be trapped somewhere, but no one knows where."

"Then his significance is what exactly?" Celestia had a small understanding of this being but she wanted to hear it herself.

"He created the universe. He's basically a god." Belle explained. This elected a small giggle from the Alicorn. "Is something funny?" Belle asked, upset and confused at the princess's reaction.

"Oh, I apologize. I mean no disrespect, it's just… I myself have been called a goddess, as has my sister, and our mother is often credited with creating this universe."

"Did she?" Twilight asked, inquisitive about her mentor's past.

"No," Celestia answered. "Or she never claimed to at least. My point is that I'm a little skeptical about a being who claims to be that powerful."

"Well," Lucario said, slightly annoyed with the princess's attitude. "While Lord Arceus is gone now, many Pokémon believe it is the truth, that he did exist and that he did create the universe."

Celestia saw the tension in the Pokémon and attempted to end the conversation. "I apologize, but I'm just not one to accept the existence of an actual god. I raise the sun and Luna the moon, and Discord is, despite his insistence otherwise, a _lord_ of chaos, not a god." Celestia thought for a second and then continued. "In fact, I believe a few of these legendaries have exaggerated their powers to gain your respect." Celestia had encountered beings who had done this kind of thing before, and as a result, she had zero patience for those who took advantage of the less powerful.

The Pokémon on the other hand, had zero tolerance for those who disrespected their god. Gene knew how Pokémon could get on this subject and, despite his own annoyance at the princess's doubt, decided to try and change the subject. "Okay, we'll discuss differences in religious belief later. Right now, I think we need to work with what we do know."

"What's that?" Applejack asked.

"That a lot of Pokémon and some humans who became Pokémon are in Equestria."

"And that something crashed in the Everfree." Pinkie added.

"What's the Everfree?" Korrina asked. "And what crashed?"

"The Everfree is a forest, it's just outside of Ponyville." Rainbow Dash answered.

"And we have no idea what crashed… unless you have an idea?" Twilight looked at her mentor in hope that she would know something.

Celestia shook her head and Twilight sighed. "So then no one knows what crashed, but whatever it is it appeared at the same time as the Pokémon did."

"Twilight, does that mean what I think it means?" Rarity asked, already suspicious of the answer.

"Yes," The princess replied. "We're going into the Everfree."

* * *

"I don't get it." Misty looked at the path before her, leading into the woods. "What's so bad about this place?" She had seen plenty of weird forests in her adventures and while these woods were a bit more sinister looking, she couldn't figure out why the ponies were scared of them.

"The Everfree just ain't natural." Applejack explained. "Plants grow."

"Clouds move." Dash said.

"And animals care for themselves." Fluttershy added. "All on their own!" The trio finished together and Misty wondered if they had rehearsed that.

"That sounds pretty normal to me." Korrina said.

"What?" Twilight asked in confusion. "How is that normal?"

"It's how our world works." Gene shrugged. "Are you telling me yours doesn't work like that?"

"No," Celestia said. "We have control over the weather, the plants, the animals, and my sister and I raise the sun and moon respectively."

Gene raised an eyebrow and looked at Belle. _"Hypocritical much?"_ The Gardevoir laughed softly.

"Well, come then," Luna beckoned, beginning the trek into the accursed forest. "If we are to make it to the crashed object before sundown we must hurry."

Everypony's eyes went wide with fear, none of them were hoping to spend another night traveling through the Everfree.

"I hope Togepi and Cubone are alright." Fluttershy and Misty had left the little Pokémon back at Twilight's library with Spike.

"I'm sure they're fine." Misty said with a smile. "Togepi isn't as defenseless as she looks and I bet that Cubone isn't either."

Fluttershy frowned as she remembered what Belle and the others had said about Pokémon having powers, she just had a hard time believing that some of the little cuties at her cottage could do things similar to what Belle had done to the Vespiquen.

"Just how far in do you think this thing is anyway?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know, Pinkie Pie how far did you say this thing was?" Twilight hoped that giving Pinkie more time would allow her to answer clearly.

"Past Zecora's house and the old castle." She replied smiling. "It's past the Tree of Harmony too."

Twilight sighed. "This is going to be a long walk." She pushed through some bushes on the path and froze. On the edge of the path was an old tree with a fork in its trunk, and resting in that fork was the largest snake Twilight had ever seen. It was dark purple and almost as thick as the tree it was resting in, fortunately it appeared to be asleep.

"Twilight, what's wrong?" Celestia followed her pupil's gaze and saw the snake. "Oh my." When Gene saw the creature he looked at it in confusion for a moment before continuing on.

"Sn-sn-sn-sn-SNAKE!" Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs.

Gene stopped and turned back just in time to watch the snake awaken and drop from the tree. "CHARBOK!" It cried at the ponies who had woken it from its nap.

"Belle!" Gene called to his partner as the Arbok splayed its hooded neck, the red and yellow markings suddenly on display as it uncoiled its entire body and made its way towards the ponies.

Belle, Korrina, Misty and Lucario all pushed through the shrubbery and stood beside the ponies, seeing the powerful Pokémon before it, and noticing the Gallade standing behind it, the Cobra Pokémon decided that getting to the ponies would be too much trouble. "Bah!" It slithered off into the thicket, leaving the ponies and Pokémon behind.

"What *GASP* was *PANT* that?" Twilight asked, her heart racing in fear.

"An Arbok." Korrina answered, stepping forward with the other Pokémon. "It's the Cobra Pokémon." She looked at the Alicorn. "Everything alright?"

"Y-yeah," She answered. "I just don't like snakes."

Korrina nodded and decided not to mention that there were three more snake-like Pokémon, one of which was almost twenty feet long.

The group continued without interruption for almost twenty minutes. Which, when you consider where they were and what was going on, was a pretty decent amount of time without encountering something truly scary or strange.

As the group rounded a bend in the path Rarity noticed something. "Does anypony else smell that?" The group stopped and smelled the air, the scent that accosted their nostrils was slightly sweet and was similar to fancy perfume.

"Yeah," Dash said, looking around. "What is that?"

"It smells like morning dew." Celestia said.

"Nay sister, tis more akin to the air at midnight." Luna replied.

"I smell cupcakes!" Pinkie cried, searching for the sweets.

Belle and Gene looked at each other and blushed at the scent they each registered, Korrina took notice and rolled her eyes, looking up slightly as she did.

"Found it." She pointed to a flock of what looked like tiny pink birds resting in the trees.

"More Pokémon?" Applejack ventured.

Gene nodded. "Those are Spritzee. They release a pleasant odor that's different to everyone who smells it."

"So that's why I'm smelling the pages of an old book right now." Twilight commented.

Celestia chuckled softly at her student. One of the Spritzee heard this and opened its eye. "Spritz?" It fluttered down to the group and landed on Rarity's head. Then it looked over her forehead and right into her eyes. "Spritzee."

"Oh, you are so cute!" Rarity grabbed the little creature and nuzzled it. "And you smell just like my favorite perfume."

Luna smiled and thought about how similar the creature was to her pet, whom she had left in her room at the castle at her sister's insistence.

The Spritzee blinked twice, then flew into Rarity's mane and snuggled in before closing its eyes. "Awww." Rarity looked to Gene and asked. "It's not dangerous, is it?"

Gene shook his head. "Nah, Spritzee are usually well tempered, calm little things, if you wanna keep it, it probably won't cause you too much trouble."

Rarity smiled and looked back at the Pokémon resting in her mane. "I think I just might do that."

Not long after that, the group had traveled farther into the Everfree than many of them ever had before, and the forest had become even more twisted, even beginning to unnerve the Pokémon. That is, until they rounded another corner and saw clear woods, comparable to the Eterna forest. The ponies gasped.

"What happened here?" Princess Celestia walked over to one of the trees in the clear area and lit up her horn as she performed a spell to detect the magic within the plant. Her eyes went wide as the results came to her. "Luna, Twilight, come here." The other two princesses walked over to the solar Alicorn.

"What is it Princess?" Twilight asked eyeing her surroundings. "What happened here?"

"It appears," Celestia said, doubting her own answer despite the proof. "That somehow this section of the forest has been cleared of the chaotic magic that is normal in the Everfree."

"How is that possible, sister?" Luna asked, double checking the tree for its magic.

"I... don't know, what I do know is that this section of the Everfree is now working in tune with Equestria's natural magic."

"This is too weird." Twilight said, she turned back to the Pokémon. "Any ideas?"

Belle shrugged. "Only a legendary would be able to do something like this."

"But even I couldn't have done something like this in so little time, or on such a large scale." Celestia gasped in disbelief.

Belle smiled and walked haughtily past the princess, Gene following behind her. "Then perhaps you should rethink your opinion on the legendaries before we run into whichever one did this."

The princess shook her head and followed the Psychic types, eyeing the area as she walked. After almost another hour of walking, the group finally left behind the pleasant clearing of peace and returned to the normal woods. Looking off into the shadowy trees, Gene noticed a pair of eyes staring back at him before they disappeared into the dark.

"How many Pokémon are here?" He asked no one in particular, trying to spot any others.

"I don't know." Belle had likewise been searching, but the unnatural darkness of the forest and the thickness of the woods themselves made it nearly impossible. "But I definitely sensed a powerful Psychic a moment ago, and I mean legendarily powerful." Gene remembered the eyes he had seen not a moment before, almost human in appearance.

A moment later Misty ran up to them.

"I think we're being watched." her voice shook with worry as she peered into the woods.

"We know." Belle nodded. "I sensed it for a moment before it hid itself. I believe one of the legendaries is nearby."

Misty swallowed nervously. "Sh-should we tell them?"

Gene shook his head. "Let's try to not freak out the locals any more than we already have." Misty nodded but kept pace with Belle and Gene, figuring it was safer near the Psychic types who knew what was going on.

It was almost an hour later when the next complication arose.

"I'm bored." Rainbow Dash groaned. She took off and flew ahead of the group. "I'm gonna scout ahead and see if I can spot anything."

"Dash, wait." Before Twilight could finish, her friend flew further down the path. "Dash!" She gave her own groan and began chasing after her. When they finally managed to catch up with the chromatic Pegasus, they found her resting in the branches of a small tree, or she probably thought it was a tree when she landed.

"Hey guys, what took ya?" She noticed the shocked expressions in her friends' faces.

"What's wrong?"

"Rainbow…" Applejack said in a hushed tone. "What are you sitting on?"

Rainbow Dash looked at her friend in confusion. "What do you mean?" She looked down and saw the tree she was in was growing on a little hill, a few boulders jutted from the ground and an unblemished ring of stone encircled the entire thing. Then she noticed the head. "Yahh!" She launched from her place on the creature's back and hovered in the air. "What is that thing?!"

Everypony turned to the Pokémon. "It's a Torterra." Belle answered. The Grass-type thankfully remained asleep. "And I suggest we all stick together from now on so that no one thinks any other Pokémon are part of the scenery. Arceus forbid if we run into a Trevenant." She eyed Rainbow Dash.

"Heh, heh, yeah." Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight, who shot her a disapproving glare. With Belle and the other Pokémon now leading the group, the ponies found themselves wondering just what they were looking for in the first place.

"It could be anything." Twilight said to herself. "A meteor, another Pokémon…"

"A giant temple with several statues atop it." Luna deadpanned. Everypony stared at her for a moment, then she pointed to the enormous temple that was now breaking the tree line.

"Yeah," Twilight stared in awe at the construction. "Or that."

* * *

Jirachi floated down one of the hallways in the Hall of Legends. She smiled as she passed familiar statues, paintings, carvings, and other various pieces of art that lined the temple halls.

The various art pieces had either existed in the ruins of Spear Pillar when Arceus had transferred the entire complex to its current location, either compressing or obliterating several dozen metric tons of dirt, trees and stone in the process, or had been dragged along as he left the world and had placed them here for safe keeping.

_It's been far too long since I visited here_. She thought as she passed an ancient carving depicting Arceus creating the Lake Trio. _Of course I was only free for a week every thousand years_. Jirachi wasn't bitter about her imprisonment, she was merely upset that her imprisoner's choice of prison. Being stuck within a crystal for an entire millennia straight with even Arceus unable to reach her in her enchanted sleep meant she missed a lot and had very little time to catch up. It also meant that, of the legendaries, Jirachi had changed the least over the period of Arceus's imprisonment.

The handful of other legendaries who had been around at the time had all changed somewhat. But since to Jirachi it had been only a few weeks in time, she had changed less over the past millennia than even Arceus had.

Jirachi pondered this as she entered the part of the temple where the legendaries separate rooms were. With so many new legendaries having been added over his period of absence, Arceus had quickly thrown together enough extra space within the temple to accommodate the new members.

Jirachi greeted the few others nearby before entering her own room. She smiled as she saw that it looked exactly how she had left it all those years ago, or weeks ago, depending on how you looked at it. Even the books from the temple's library she had been reading were still in place.

Jirachi was honestly surprised at just how well Arceus had rebuilt and refurbished the temple, not just the hall. Spear Pillar had been the ruins of the Hall of Legends, the legendarie's meeting place, while the Hall of Origin was more of an idea than an actual location. Only Arceus could go there, even during his imprisonment, and he had only done so a handful of times, from there he could only return to his pocket dimension. The area of the Temple that Jirachi was currently in was located beneath the Hall of Legends, and had been located beneath the ruins of Spear Pillar as well, the humans just hadn't considered that an entire _mountain_ could be a single complex.

Jirachi settled on her bed and opened the book she had been reading when she had last been to the temple, an adventure novel written by a Zoroark author from before Arceus's imprisonment, grinning as she found the page still marked. _Just what else has he done?_ She thought, remembering the statues that should have been rubble, the library that should have been dust, and the pool that should have dried up.

Meanwhile, several stories up, Arceus was in the middle of a very important meeting. _"So how have things been in the Sinnoh region?"_ A family meeting. Mesprit, Azelf, Uxie, Palkia, Dialga, Celebi, Giratina, Mew, and Arceus were gathered at the front of the meeting table. Mew had returned not long after Arceus had sent her off, saying she wanted to be there for something important. Arceus assumed she meant the reunion he was holding with his direct family. While the Alpha Pokémon loved and cared for all the legendaries, he was especially fond of his children and his grandchild.

Mesprit just shrugged at her father's question. _"Rather dull, really. One of the Trainers a while back was a bit set on catching us."_

"_The one who foiled Team Galactic?"_ Giratina asked.

"_Yeah,"_ Azelf smiled. She and her sisters were thankful for the Trainer's holding back, and they had grown fond of him over the ordeal, but in no way did they want to be captured. _"But once we got him to actually listen to us he stopped trying."_

Arceus smiled. _"I'm glad, if any of you had been captured in my absence..."_

"_Grandpa, don't."_ Celebi had seen how Arceus could get, he had talked with her and Mew a lot during the Team Galactic incident, and they had both seen how the god could get when his children were in danger. Arceus looked to his granddaughter and shook his head.

"_Right, I won't think about that. Thanks, Celly."_ Celebi smiled.

"_Anyway,"_ Her grin turned devious. _"Do you know what happened with Heatran at Reversal Mountain?"_

Arceus already knew the answer, and the Creation Trio had somewhat of an idea, but none of them wanted to interrupt her. Deoxys, on the other hand, apparently had no such quarrels as he rocketed into the room before Celebi could even begin.

"_Apologies, Lord Arceus,"_ He said as he dropped out of his speed form. _"But there is a group of the local sentients, as well as a few Pokémon, on their way here. I thought I should warn you."_

Arceus blinked once before replying. _"Oh, them? I know; in fact they're entering the temple right now."_

"_What?"_ Palkia looked at his father in confusion. _"How did they break the barriers?"_ The temple was protected by ancient wards, recently reset by Arceus, which only allowed Legendary Pokémon to enter the temple. Other beings could, but only with permission or whilst holding one of the objects of power, the Creation Orbs, an elemental plate, one of Genesect's Drives, etc.

"_They didn't."_ Arceus answered. _"I let them in."_

"_Why?"_ Dialga asked, just as confused as his brother.

"_To meet the locals."_ He replied simply. Arceus knew that if his Pokémon were to live in peace in this world, then he would have to sell the leaders on the merits of his plan, or at least make it clear that none of the ordinary Pokémon had anything to do with it.

"_Should we call the others?"_ Uxie looked to her father, quickly figuring out his plan.

"_Soon I think, but not yet."_

Arceus looked to a hall leading to the outside, the one he knew the ponies and Pokémon were coming from, and waited.

He watched as a white Alicorn, her multi-hued mane flowing even in the absence of wind, came into view, soon followed by a midnight blue Alicorn, her star-dotted mane mimicking her sister's.

Princess Celestia stopped as she saw the beings sitting at the table in the center of the enormous room. She looked at the being at the head of the table. His coat as white as her own, the golden ring encircling his body, the sheer aura of awe his very presence demanded, he was obviously the Arceus she had been told of. And yet he only watched her for a moment as she and the rest of the group slowly entered the room. The majority of whom were very, very nervous, especially the Pokémon.

Celestia and Luna stood at the head of the group and stared at the legendaries, none of whom dared to speak before Arceus in this matter. Not wanting to wait any longer, Celestia decided to speak first, if this was to be a diplomatic sort of meeting, then they would have to view each other as equals, right? And yet, something about Arceus just made Celestia feel as though she were intruding upon more than just his home, like she should have waited for him to reveal himself to her. The specific feeling, one Celestia couldn't name, was enough to shake up the princess's usually calm demeanor, and instead of a wise and crowd-hushing introduction, Princess Celestia, Princess of the Sun, co-ruler of Equestria, original bearer to half of the Elements of Harmony, defeater of Discord, and nurturer of the one who destroyed King Sombra, and dispelled Nightmare Moon could only think of one thing to say.

"Hello?"


	8. Chapter 6

Twilight Sparkle was completely flabbergasted. Not because the temple she was in hadn't even been in the Everfree until this morning, not because said temple was seemingly large enough to accomodate the dragon who had nearly smothered Equestria, not even because of the collection of beings at the table before her. She was flabbergasted at her mentor's apparent loss of words.

Arceus, however, was used to newcomers reacting to his presence in such a way. _"Greeting Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,"_ He looked at the rest of the ponies. _"Princess Twilight Sparkle, Lady Rarity, Miss Fluttershy, Cadet Rainbow Dash, Miss Applejack, Miss Pinkamena Pie."_

He turned to the Pokémon with the group. _"Hello, young ones."_ He said with a smile, beings from his own world he could greet with some familiarity. _"And welcome all, to the Hall of Legends!"_ Lightning flashed behind him, causing several of the ponies to shriek, and one to almost faint. Arceus looked back and saw Mew floating there with her paws behind her back, smoke rising from them that looked suspiciously like she had fired a Thunderbolt attack.

"_Sorry,"_ He apologized. _"Mew can be a bit of a prankster at times."_

Celestia finally managed to regain herself and took a few steps forward. "You are Arceus, I presume?"

"_Yes, and these are my sons, Dialga, Palkia and Giratina."_ Each of the legendaries bowed their head as they were introduced. _"My daughters, Mew, Uxie, Azelf and Mesprit, my granddaughter Celebi and this is Deoxys, my fellow legendary, friend and council member."_

"I didn't think they all knew each other." Korrina whispered to her partner. Her Lucario brought her to a kneeling position.

"Apparently they do, now shush." Lucario didn't want to do anything to upset the gods.

"Well, Lord Arceus," Celestia continued, deciding to play it somewhat safe and use some kind of noble title. "As I'm certain you are aware, the citizens of your world have somehow ended up in Equestria, and the presence of this temple leads me to believe that you have something to do with it. Care to explain?"

"She's gonna die, isn't she?" Misty asked Belle as she watched the exchange.

"I don't think so. She doesn't know just who he is. He'll probably forgive her for her insolence."

Arceus smiled at the princess. _"Certainly, Princess, you are correct in your assumption. I alone am responsible for the Pokémon's presence in this world,"_ He looked to Gene, Korrina, and Misty. _"As well as the former humans."_

Celestia was shocked that she got such a clear confession so easily, she was about to question him again but Luna beat her to it. "Why did you do this? What compelled you to move your citizens to Equus?"

"_A fine question, Princess Luna. The answer lies in thousands of years of history and the reasons themselves vary greatly, but the short answer? I sought to protect my Pokémon from the harm that humans have caused since they first imprisoned me, thousands of years prior to these events."_

"You… what?" Celestia had grown used to being opposed by forces attempting to take over Equestria, so this answer actually surprised her.

Arceus sighed. _"It is a long and tiresome story, Princess, but this is the short version. Tired of my meddling in their affairs, the humans locked me, my sons, and a few of the other legendaries away so we could no longer bother them, then they began treating Pokémon less and less like their equals and more and more like tools and slaves. When I finally escaped, I decided to save the Pokémon from whatever fate awaited them should the world have continued on its path."_

"Tools? Slaves?!" The princess turned and glared at the Pokémon members of the group. Gene pulled Belle closer to him and wrapped his arms around her, Korrina put an arm around Lucario's shoulder and smiled nervously, and Misty hid behind the larger Pokémon.

Arceus chuckled at the Princess's assumption, and the Pokémon's reactions. _"Not all humans are that bad, the ones I brought with are the ones I deemed worthy of coming to this world to live in peace."_ Arceus wasn't entirely sure how many humans he had brought with, in his normal mindset he couldn't recall what had happened while he was ultimately powerful.

The answers Arceus gave just brought more and more questions to Celestia's mind, but everything that he said just added up until the Princess could no longer hold back. "So you decided, by yourself, that you would take all the Pokémon on your planet, and whatever humans you deemed 'worthy' and move them to a new world, changing the humans forms in the process, all of which you did without asking anyone else's opinion?"

"_No, I had the opinion of the other fifty three members of the legendary council, we made a plan, they asked some questions, and then I brought us all here."_

Belle nervously looked around the room, searching for any other legendaries who may have entered.

"But none of the humans or citizen Pokémon had a say in the matter?" Celestia asked, gritting her teeth.

"_No, I couldn't ask every Pokémon on the planet, and humans are relatively stuck in their ways unless you shove them in a new direction."_

The former humans chose to ignore that, but found themselves quite embarrassed being told of their faults by their god.

Celestia shook her head. "What gives you the right to decide the fate of thousands–?"

"_Millions, actually."_ Arceus corrected her. _"The Pokémon aren't only in your country."_

Celestia's eyes went wide. "M-millions of sentient beings without even asking them? Do you really consider yourself a god?"

"_Do I really… heh, heh heh… ahhah ah ahaha!"_ For the first time in over a thousand years, Arceus found himself unable to stop laughing. When he finally regained himself, he turned back to the Alicorn, his voice now dead serious. _"Yes I consider myself a god,"_ He teleported from the chair at the front of the room and reappeared on the ground, he began walking towards the Princesses. _"I created an entire universe from nothing; my sons are the embodiments of time, space, and anti-matter. I am older than the universe itself, and this universe as well. I brought life to a dead planet and created a daughter whose very mind is the pinnacle of creation, who can create an entire species with a single thought, and my other daughters have enough psychic power combined to tear apart the mind of even the strongest immortal, myself not included."_

Arceus was now standing muzzle to muzzle with the solar Alicorn. _"So, yes Princess Celestia, patron of the sun, former bearer to half of the Elements of Harmony, I am a god."_

Celestia stared into Arceus's eyes, and the god let her see a glimpse of what lied behind those eyes; eyes that contained all the knowledge of an entire universe, the secrets of life, time, and space. Eyes that had seen a universe come to life, that had seen the darkness before the light, and Celestia blinked. For her staring into those eyes was like what staring into the sun was like for a normal pony, and he had only just revealed the truth about himself. For a normal pony, or anyone besides Celestia, Luna, and Discord, even that brief glance would have driven them to insanity.

Celestia took a few steps back, rubbing her eyes. It was clear that Arceus was powerful, but Celestia wasn't ready to accept that he was actually a god just yet. "You may be powerful Arceus, but I've met beings who exaggerate their powers to gain followers and fame."

"_And you think I'm a farce,"_ Arceus shook his head and turned around, walking back towards his seat. Celestia smiled, thinking she had gotten him. _"Perhaps a demonstration will change your mind."_

Arceus considered wresting control of the sun and moon from the sisters, but that would be trivial; he considered creating a new galaxy just for show, but they were inside – he'd destroy the mortals in doing so. He smiled as he decided on something simple but meaningful. His eyes glowed golden as he activated his powers over reality, and cut a slice out.

Right before Celestia's eyes, a section of space never existed. Arceus removed a five by five section of space from the space time continuum, no time, no light, no darkness, no anything, it was a void, a pure, empty void. And the Princess could sense it. She had studied time magic enough to sense distortions, and this was no distortion, it was just nothing.

"N-no, that can't be." Celestia stepped away from the hole. "That's impossible."

"_For some maybe,"_ Arceus said, floating the hole in existence around in a circle. _"But not a god."_ Arceus decided to end his demonstration with a bang. He refilled the hole in space with matter, but with new matter, where the hole had been a moment before a miniature star now glowed. And as the ponies watched the star began to grow, and grow, and grow, forcing the ponies and Pokémon back as it grew to be larger than a house, before collapsing into itself and forming a black hole. A black hole which Arceus then turned into a sunflower, which he then floated over to Celestia. _"For you, Princess,"_ He placed the flower in her flowing mane, it should have fallen through but instead it flowed with the rest of her mane.

Princess Celestia looked at Arceus, the Alpha Pokémon smiling at her. And Princess Celestia, Princess of the Sun, co-ruler of Equestria, original bearer to half of the Elements of Harmony, defeater of Discord, and nurturer of the one who destroyed King Sombra, and dispelled Nightmare Moon fainted.

"Sister!"

"Princess!"

Seven mares rushed to the fallen Alicorn's side, fortunately, however, she was only out for a few seconds.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." she said as she stood herself up, wobbling slightly.

"_Father?"_ Giratina asked as Arceus returned to his seat. _"Was that really necessary…? Or wise?"_

"_Don't worry, Giratina, I just had to prove to the Princesses that I really was as powerful as the legends say."_

"Arceus!" Celestia barked. "I don't care if you are a god,"

"_Nor should you,"_ He countered the sun controller simply. _"I just had to prove it."_

"You cannot just move an entire planet's populace to Equus! You could upset the natural balance, or start a war, or–!" Celestia was too upset to think logically, what she need was someone who could work with illogic and make it work for them. She needed Discord, but without the Elements, she couldn't cast the spell to summon him, and this was just slightly out of Pinkie's league.

"_I didn't have much of a choice Princess. The humans continued to capture my Pokémon and even some of the legendaries in those accursed Pokéballs."_

"What's a Pokéball?" Luna asked, deciding to take the reins so her sister could calm down.

Arceus was about to explain Pokéballs with a pre-planned ten minute rant, but was interrupted when another legendary entered the chamber. Thankfully, this one probably wouldn't destabilize the already damaged psyche of the Princess.

"_Arceus, are there any Lava Cookies in the kitchen? Heatran is hungry and keeps trying to eat the furniture."_ Keldeo stopped his approach as he noticed the group of mares, all of whom were looking at him. Now, logically, Keldeo knew he was the only one of his kind, he knew that the ponies weren't his own species. Unfortunately, Keldeo wasn't thinking logically when he saw the ponies, especially the pure white unicorn mare with the beautiful deep purple mane.

Keldeo stumbled as he stopped, nearly falling over in the process, but he managed to stop himself. Once he righted himself, he gave a cocky grin and walked over to the ponies and, more specifically, Rarity. _"Hi, I'm Keldeo."_ He introduced himself. _"What's your name?"_

"My name is Rarity," She introduced herself, then sized up the newcomer. "Forgive me for asking, darling, but… are you a pony or a Pokémon?" Rarity remembered Gene saying some Pokémon species were similar to ponies but Keldeo looked _a lot_ like a pony.

"_I'm a Pokémon, but I can see where the confusion is. I may not look it, but I'm a legend, too."_ Keldeo remembered seeing the ponies when Arceus had first shown them back on Earth. _Didn't think I'd meet any of them this soon though._

"What do you want?" Twilight asked in exasperation. "We're in the middle of something."

"_Now, now Princess, as he said, Keldeo is a legendary as well. He has as much right to be here as any of us."_

Rainbow Dash looked at Keldeo doubtingly. "You're a legendary? I thought they were all supposed to be huge and powerful."

"_Powerful, yes."_ Keldeo eyed Celebi and Mew, two of the most powerful legendaries. _"Huge, not always. Mew can beat me, and she's smaller than I am."_

"Can we get back on topic please?" Twilight sighed.

"_Right, sorry."_ Keldeo walked over to the table, but once he reached the edge he turned back to look at Rarity. _"See ya around."_ He turned and and ran forward. _"Aqua Jet!"_ Four columns of water shot from the Colt Pokémon's hooves, propelling him upwards and over the table.

"_Show off."_ Mew muttered to herself as Keldeo trotted out of the room.

"Anyway," Korrina stepped forward. "Not to be rude, Lord Arceus, but I understand you deemed us worthy – thanks for that – but why are we Pokémon?"

Arceus looked to the Pokémon. Gene was still holding Belle close to him. _"So you could all live in peace."_ He explained. _"Since some humans were the root of the problems back on Earth, I decided that bringing humans here and leaving them as humans would just invite the problems again."_

"Don't you think that's a little unreasonable?" Luna asked. "If they didn't cause problems before, what makes you think they would now?"

Arceus shrugged. _"It is better safe than sorry. Besides, adding humans would just be another species to deal with,"_ Arceus thought of some of the more dangerous Pokémon. _"And you have enough of those already."_

"Lord Arceus," Misty went to stand next to Korrina. "While I really appreciate the, trust and all, I really would like to be human again. Being a Pokémon just doesn't feel right for me."

"Same here." Korrina agreed. Everyone in the room waited for another voice to chime in Misty and Korrina turned back to Gene, who was awkwardly staring at the ceiling.

"I'm, actually ok with this." He said when he noticed everyone staring at him.

"What?!" Misty and Korrina shouted together.

"Hey," He held up his arms defensively. "This body means I can actually spend my life with Belle without the constant threat of being arrested."

"Wait a minute." Twilight was trying to process what Gene had just said. "What do you mean, 'arrested?'"

Before the Gallade could explain, a melodic voice chimed in. _"Allow me to shed a little light on the situation."_ In a flash of light, Cresselia appeared in the center of the room. _"Greetings, I am Lady Cresselia."_

The ponies watched in awe as the Lunar Pokémon glided down to meet them. _"If there aren't any objections, I will explain the situation involving young Gene and Belle?"_ She looked to Arceus, who nodded in affirmative. _"Then I won't take up much of your time; you see, little ponies, back on our home world, love is not always as free as it is here. The humans do not find it acceptable for one of their own to love a Pokémon, as Gene loves Belle."_

"What?" Celestia deadpanned. She made it a point to never interfere when it came to love. She left that to her niece.

"_Yes, Princess, I much prefer this world in that aspect. In fact, it was my idea to turn the humans into Pokémon in the first place."_

"So that's what you've been hiding!" Twilight exclaimed. Gene blushed fiercely and looked away. Belle put one hand on his shoulder and smiled at him softly.

Cresselia giggled. _"Don't worry, young ones, as long as you are here, your love will only grow from this day forth."_ Gene and Belle turned to Cresselia, confused at first, but then smiled at her, then at each other.

"Thank you." They said together, the ponies smiled, while the former humans looked like they wanted to kill Gene. Celestia saw this and resolved to let Cadence talk to Gene, Belle, and the Gym Leaders.

"_Well, I won't hold you up any longer."_ Cresselia bowed to Arceus and the others as she took her leave. _"I promised Darkrai I'd meet him in the Hall of Paintings. It'd be rude of me to keep him waiting."_ Cresselia grinned as she left the room.

"Okay, are any more of these guys going to show up?" Rainbow Dash asked, upset that they hadn't made any progress in fixing the problem.

"_Maybe,"_ Arceus said, shrugging. _"My family has free run of the temple, they could all come in here right now if they wanted."_

"STOP!" Celestia shouted. "We're not getting off topic again!" She turned to glare at Arceus. "Arceus, I… understand why you did what you did, I honestly do. Luna and I would have done the same if we had the power you hold and if we were in the same situation, but you cannot transplant hundreds of different creatures to another world without contacting the world leaders in some way first. There are–!"

"_Readily sustainable populations of six hundred and sixty seven species and fifty four singular legendaries, myself included."_ Arceus interrupted absently.

Celestia grit her teeth. "Rules to follow. You could cause mass chaos."

"_And your friend, the so-called lord of chaos, couldn't?"_ He asked.

"Stop interrupting!" Celestia screamed. She took a deep breath and continued. "You have to take the Pokémon back, or put them on another world, you cannot leave them here."

"_You speak for the entire planet then?"_ Arceus asked. _"Don't you think the Griffins would like a say? Or the Saddle Arabians? How about the Zebras? My Pokémon are just as intelligent as your little ponies – well, most of them – and they can be very helpful in many situations, especially when the region isn't as…"_ He paused, looking for the right word. _"Safe as Equestria."_

To prove his point, Arceus projected several possible future images. A pair of Golurk stood outside the gates to the Crystal Empire, a male Pyroar stood between a lion and a pair of Zebra foals, a herd of Hippocampi swum in the wake left by a Wailord, scattering nearby sharks.

"_I think my Pokémon could be a great asset to this world, Princess,"_ He ended the images. _"If you are willing to allow it."_

Celestia didn't answer, mulling over the images she had seen. "And if I refuse?"

"_I'd prefer to stay here peacefully but,"_ He shortened his telepathy to just the princess. _"I care for my Pokémon in the same way you care for your ponies. If you try to force me to put them in harm's way… I'll let you fill in the rest."_

Celestia hung her head. She knew Arceus was right. Not only did she highly dislike the idea of putting other beings in harm's way, Arceus had used her own protective nature against her. If anyone were to threaten her ponies, well, they would know why some considered her a goddess. But Arceus was an actual god. If he would go to the lengths Celestia was willing to go to… being blinked out of existence did not sound like a good way to leave a world.

But Celestia was not willing to cave just yet. She looked up at Arceus. "It appears we have reached an impasse."

"_Have we?"_ He asked deviously. _"Because I think I've already won."_

The solar Alicorn's ear twitched. "How so?"

"_I know you don't want to hurt my Pokémon, the same way I don't want to hurt your ponies. We both would if we had to, but we'd despise ourselves for it for as long as we lived."_ He looked her dead in the eye. _"And we'll both live for a very long time."_ Arceus continued. _"But, since I'm the only one powerful enough to remove my Pokémon from this world, and only with the consent of my children at that, I'd have to agree to do it, which I probably won't. Because you know that in a real battle, and I mean a no holds barred battle, I would win. Which is exactly why you won't take any action against me or my Pokémon unless we attack first."_ Arceus smiled as he finished. _"And if, let's say a Pokémon goes rogue and attacks a village or a hateful pony harms a Pokémon, neither of us would attack the other because we know that you can't judge a group for the actions of one."_

_Game, set, match_. Arceus thought to himself. _"This all adding up to the fact that I want my Pokémon to stay here and you don't have the power to remove them."_

Celestia tried to respond, but just remained silent; the Alpha Pokémon had her hooves tied. He had turned policies she stood by to resolve issues against her, with an audience of her sister and the representatives of harmony present. For the first time since before Discord ruled Equestria, Princess Celestia was beat. But that didn't mean she had to acknowledge it.

"We have the Elements of Harmony," She bluffed. "And Discord." Celestia tried for a last ditch attempt to unnerve the Pokémon.

Arceus rolled his eyes. _"You don't have the Elements, and even if you did, they wouldn't work on me, anyway. As a god, I'm neutral, not evil. And Discord isn't as powerful as me either. Plus, I have a being under my beck and call who embodies the exact opposite of the Draconequus."_ He smiled slyly at the princess. _"A being of order versus a being of chaos, I wonder how that would turn out."_

Fluttershy's eyes went wide as Arceus said this. "Um, Mr. Arceus sir, if it's not too much trouble, could you please not hurt Discord? Like you said, we don't have the Elements to turn him back if your friend turns him to stone."

Arceus turned to Fluttershy. _"Well… I don't think Zygarde would turn him to stone, Miss Fluttershy, but as long as he doesn't cause trouble for me or the Pokémon, then we won't have a problem."_

Luna stepped forward, interrupting Fluttershy's response. "Are you really more powerful than Discord? He seems to control matter as you do."

"_True,"_ Arceus consented. _"Discord and I both have control over the fundamental forces of the universe, but where he controls chaos,"_ Arceus concentrated and collected harmony, chaos and neutral energy and shaped it into a symbol from the humans. A colossal yin-yang symbol filled the center of the room. _"I control all."_ The symbol, made of pure energy, collapsed into itself and became a pebble, which fell to the floor and clattered to a stop in front of the ponies.

Princess Luna looked at her sister. Celestia just shook her head.

"We need to come up with a plan." She whispered to her sister. She then turned to Arceus. "This… is not over, Arceus. I will return, and we will discuss this further." Normally, Celestia wouldn't have left until an agreement could be reached, but she was dealing with an all-powerful being from another world. She needed to go to Canterlot and think strategy.

"_Good, you're welcome here anytime, because, after all,"_ He smiled his mouthless smile. _"We're both immortals. You're welcome to come and visit as well Luna; and Discord too. The Hall of Legends is always open to immortals."_

Celestia grimaced as she turned to leave. _"And one more thing Princess."_ Arceus said, solely to her. _"Whatever issues the two of us have, or will have, as it may be, my family, as well as the other Pokémon, are off limits. Respect that, and I'll treat your own family and the ponies the same. Deal?"_

Celestia suppressed the small grin that threatened to show on her face. _Deal_. she thought, knowing the god would hear it. While Celestia, followed by her sister and the other ponies, began to make their way out of the temple, the Pokémon lingered behind.

"_You wish to ask something, young ones?"_ Giratina asked, noticing them.

"L-lord Giratina," Lucario began with a bow. "We do not wish to question the god's will, but,"

"Is there any way we can be human again?" Korrina asked.

"_I'm afraid not,"_ Arceus said. _"Your old forms were altered as we came here. These bodies read as your forms on a certain level, and I simply… enhanced that. These bodies are truly yours now. Now go, the ponies will need your help."_

"Of course, Lord Arceus." Gene said with a bow. He wanted to get back with the group, mainly because he was pretty sure Misty and Korrina were upset that he didn't agree with them on going back to human.

The Pokémon followed the ponies through the hallway and soon after disappeared from sight.

"_Do you think we can trust her?"_ Uxie asked, considering the situation with Celestia.

Arceus turned and began to walk out of the hall. _"Celestia and I have more in common than she will ever admit, ergo I trust her as much as I would trust myself."_

"_Is that good?"_ Azelf inquired.

"_As long as we understand each other,"_ Arceus said. _"I'm sure she'll be fine."_

* * *

Princess Celestia grumbled angrily to herself as she and the others made their way out of the Everfree, the rest of the group didn't hear much but they made out phrases such as "Stupid god." and "More powerful, my flank."

"She seems upset." Gene commented redundantly.

"Only because _your_ god isn't being reasonable." Twilight snapped. "And he claimed to be more powerful than Celestia."

"He is more powerful than Celestia." Korrina affirmed.

Twilight chose to ignore her and continued walking.

"Speaking of upset," Korrina stepped in front of Gene and held him back with a paw. "I have a bone to pick with you."

"Is it the one in your hand?" He asked, hoping to distract her.

"No," She deadpanned, her voice lacking any amount of humor. "When Misty and I were trying to convince Arceus to turn us back to normal, siding against us didn't help our case."

"Yeah," Misty agreed. "I don't wanna spend the rest of my life as a Vaporeon. I still have a lot of things I want to do. One of them I will never be able to do if I'm like this."

Gene shrugged. "Well, I'm not going to give up a chance at a real life with Belle, sorry."

The former Gym Leaders shot murderous glares at Gene. At this point Belle decided it would be a good idea to step in and defend her mate. She grabbed Gene's arm and pulled him close, giving Misty and Korrina a look that said _"Try anything and I will tear your mind to shreds."_ The former humans backed off, continuing down the path

"Traitor." Korrina whispered, almost out of earshot.

"Gene," Belle spoke up, turning to the Gallade. "We need to talk."

Gene smiled at her nervously. "What about?"

"Did you really mean everything you said?" She tried not meeting his eyes. "About leaving your humanity behind for me and–?"

Gene tilted Belle's head upward so he was looking her right in the eye. "Belle, there is nothing in this world or any other that I wouldn't do if it would let us be together."

Gene pulled Belle into a deep kiss, one which the Gardevoir gladly met. It was their second real kiss since they had come to Equestria, and the second one Belle shared with the Gallade. It was also the second one to be interrupted by the ponies.

"AAH!" Fluttershy screamed from somewhere up ahead.

"Damn it." Gene muttered, breaking the kiss. "What is it this time?"

Gene and Belle rushed ahead, expecting to find the ponies facing a Gengar or Zoroark, what they found was in fact a Pokémon, but it was significantly worse than a Gengar.

"Hydreigon!"

The Dragon/Dark-type hovered in front of the ponies. Celestia and Luna stood at the front of the group, protecting the rest of the ponies. Lucario, Korrina and Misty stood beside them, although Korrina and Misty were standing behind Lucario.

"What is it?" Celestia asked as Gene and Belle ran to join her.

"Hydreigon," Belle answered. "A Pokémon so powerful, it's considered a pseudo-legendary."

"Can we reason with it?" Luna asked. "It is sapient, is it not?"

"Well, yes but wild Hydreigon are the most vicious Pokémon on the planet." Gene explained. _Where's Iris when you need her?_ He thought to himself.

"We can still try." Celestia stepped forward, determined to make peace with at least one powerful Pokémon today. "Hydreigon!" She called, getting its attention. "I understand-"

The Hydreigon only roared at her. To the Pokémon, her call raised an alarm which it answered with a Hyper Beam.

"Look out!" Belle cried as the Dragon Pokémon blasted its most powerful attack at the Princess. Celestia's eyes went wide and she attempted to raise a force field, but before she was able to, a blurry shape shot from the bushes and intercepted the beam, deflecting the attack entirely.

"HYDREIGON!" The Brutal Pokémon roared in rage and launched itself at the newcomer.

"Sacred Sword!" The Pokémon shot forward and slashed Hydreigon across its body, causing the Pokémon to roar in pain.

Seeing their opportunity to strike, the other Pokémon attacked.

"Aura Sphere!" Lucario shot a blue orb of energy from his paw, it hit the Hydreigon head on, knocking the Dark-type back while the princess' protector continued to slash and hack at it.

"Moonblast!" Belle gathered energy for the attack, but as she fired the lunar powered beam, she felt as if the energy was increased. Likewise Luna felt a momentary drain on her own power from her proximity to the attack. The Hydreigon, already faced with multiple type disadvantages, was thrown backwards as the attack hit.

Celestia stepped forward and faced the Pokémon.

"If you stop now," She warned it calmly. "Then I won't blast you myself."

The Hydreigon, unfortunately, didn't care, and attempted to charge its Hyper Beam again. It was interrupted by a solar laser that sent it flying through the forest and left it unconscious more than a mile from the path.

Celestia smiled, then turned to find the creature that had first defended her. It was directly behind her, its singular eye staring directly at her, as if scrutinizing something she couldn't see.

"You," It said, pointing at her with the shield attached to its right arm. "Are worthy."

The Aegislash bowed before the Princess, leaving her only one question.

"What did it say?"


	9. Chapter 7

"_Zygarde...I really don't think you should be doing that."_ Shaymin warned her friend, who was currently wrapped around the Tree of Harmony like a scarf.

"_But I wish to absssorb the energy."_ He stated.

"_Look, this is obviously that embodiment of harmony that Lord Arceus told us about, I just don't think you should be trying to absorb energy from this world until we're sure it's not going to, I don't know, explode or something."_ Shaymin was worried for her friend's safety but she was also worried about the tree itself. If she could figure out how to make one of those grow… Shaymin smiled at the idea, this world definitely had some flora she would be adding to her personal garden.

Zygarde rolled his eyes. _"Fine,"_ He unwrapped himself and slid back over to Shaymin. _"The tree isssn't giving me anything anyway, but I am coming back here later."_

"_So am I."_ Shaymin said as the pair left the cave and returned to their work. However, only a few minutes after ascending the staircase the legendaries heard something big crashing through the forest, and heading right for them.

"_What do you think?"_ Shaymin asked. _"Dragon? Steel? Rampaging Gyarados?"_

"_No,"_ Zygarde said, sniffing the air with his serpentine tongue. _"I sssmell Grasss."_

"_Well that narrows it down."_ Shaymin said sincerely. There were only a handful of Grass-types that could move as fast as this thing was, and only one that would sound like a tank ramming through the forest.

Moments later an armored porcupine-like creature crashed through the foliage, the Chesnaught stopped in front of the legendaries and bowed. "Lady Shaymin, Lord Zygarde, apologies for the intrusion."

"_All is forgiven, young one,"_ Shaymin assured her subject that he was in no danger. _"But was is the matter? Something dire not doubt."_ Shaymin was surprised at the Pokémon's forwardness, normally Grass-types were much more withdrawn, especially around her.

"Indeed my Lady, for you see, one of the accursed was found wandering this forest earlier, with the combined efforts of myself and many others we were able to force the abomination into an abandoned castle, but not without casualties, it is being guarded closely by several Ghost-types and other Pokémon are combing the forest for other accursed as well as their normal guards." He looked up at the Grass-type patron. "But we are all wondering how even one of them escaped, as well as where we are."

Shaymin sighed, she had a feeling that things like this would be happening a lot in the coming weeks. _"Allow me to explain."_

* * *

"Just one more test?!" Bio Chem whined at the Psychic-type floating near the ceiling of his lab.

"_NO!"_ Professor Juniper was fed up with the Earth Pony's experiments. _"You've poked, prodded and scanned me, all that's left is for you to cut me open and that's not happening!"_

"I'm not going to dissect you." he assured her.

"_Then why do you have a surgical knife?"_

"…You're just full of questions aren't you?" Bio Chem set down the knife in his hoof and went back to one of the screens located around the room.

"_So,"_ Juniper asked, having floated alongside the stallion to look at the screen. _"Have you figured out why I've transformed yet?"_

Bio Chem shook his head and pushed the screen away. "No, and according to these readings your genetic structure is one hundred percent... you called it a Beheeyem didn't you?"

The Pokémon professor sighed and floated over to the table at the center of the room, where she had been having tea with the princesses earlier. Bio Chem continued to fiddle with various machines around the room until one of them started picking up _very_ strange readings. "What in the world?" He took a closer look and was shocked to find that the readings were coming from _inside_ the machine itself. "What's wrong with you now?"

He hit a button on the side of the device, one set to reboot it entirely and remove any unnecessary software. The machine buzzed with electricity and a second later an orange and blue blur shot over his head, singeing his mane and ricocheting off of the walls as it traveled further into the lab.

"OY!" He cried, patting the singed hair of his mane. "You nasty little virus or whatever you are, get back here!" He raced after the thing, which was snickering from the pursuit, leaving Professor Juniper alone with the Trubbish that was still in the waste paper basket.

"Hey," It said to her. "What's going on?"

At that point Juniper decided that chasing something that she probably knew the identity to around a lab with a slightly crazy pony was better than having a conversation with the Trash Bag Pokémon. She floated in the direction Bio Chem had ran mumbling to herself. "I swear to Arceus when I find the one responsible for all of this I am going to throttle them." She wondered if she could throttle people without actual fingers.

* * *

"Seriously. What is that?" Celestia had an aching suspicion to the answer but thought it would be rude just to assume.

"Aegislash." Korrina answered. "The Royal Sword Pokémon, and it just said you're worthy."

"Worthy?" Celestia asked in confusion. "Worthy of what?"

"According to history," Gene explained. "Whoever Aegislash recognized was destined to rule… I'm guessing you're the head princess or whatever?"

Celestia looked back at her sister and Twilight, both of whom just nodded, although Luna a little begrudgingly so.

"I suppose so. But so what?"

"Well," Gene continued. "Also according to legend they serve the ruler of the land."

"Why do you know so much about ancient Kalos?" Korrina asked.

Gene shrugged. "I did some research at Shabboneau Castle while I was looking for," His eyes darted to Belle for a second. "Something, and I read a lot of old legends."

"Eh hem." Princess Celestia reminded them that they were explaining something,

"Sorry Princess. Uhh, right. Aegislash recognized the ruler and then served by their side for as long as they lived." Gene summarized the old myths he had read.

"So, this thing," She pointed to the Steel-type still floating in front of her. "Is going to serve as my… sword?" She looked back to Gene.

"Protector, body guard… I think it was a consort in one of the myths. Really, it'll do whatever you want it to do."

"Wait, what did you say?!" Korrina was in disbelief over part of Gene's statement.

"For as long as it lives?" Celestia finished, ignoring the Lucario.

"No, as long as you live." Gene corrected.

Normally Celestia would have laughed at that, but right now, she was not in a laughing mood. "While I don't know how long you Pokémon," She quickly realized her mistake and corrected herself. "Or humans, live, I can assure you, it is _very_ likely that I will outlive this creature unless it is immortal."

Gene smiled and said. "Aegislash is part Steel, part Ghost-type, the only way it can die naturally is if it rusts into nothing... and since it's an ethereal blade that's very unlikely. Ergo, it's basically immortal."

Celestia paused and looked back at the Pokémon, considering the pros and cons of having a living four foot sword with a shield for a body guard. Then she realized something that Gene had just said. "Ghost-type?" She asked. "What does that even mean? And what are all these types you keep mentioning?"

Misty stepped forward and explained. "Well princess, Pokémon are able to tap into the forces of nature and when a Pokémon has an aptitude for tapping into a specific kind of force, they get classified as that type."

Korrina nodded and continued. "There are eighteen different types, most of which involve the elements."

Celestia nodded. "So then this isn't actually an undead spirit."

"…actually," Gene said. "Aegislash are swords possessed by the spirits of dead warriors."

"Oh, come on." Twilight groaned. "I'm willing to believe that all you Pokémon have some sort of special magic, I'm willing to believe that your 'gods' are powerful enough to do this, and I'm willing to believe that somehow that sword is alive." She pointed to the Aegislash, which was still floating at Celestia's side. "But I am not willing to believe that that thing is the spirit of a dead warrior. That's impossible."

"Really?" Misty deadpanned. "You just met a god from another world and you're doubting the existence of ghosts?"

"All-powerful beings and disembodied souls are two entirely different things." she stated.

Gene sighed. "If we find her, remind me to introduce you to my friend, Shauntal. I'm sure she could change your mind."

"Enough arguing about ghosts," Celestia interrupted. "Is there any way for me to get rid of this thing? I'm trying to get the Pokémon _out_ of Equestria, not integrate them."

Gene thought for a moment, then answered. "I really don't know, none of the legends said anything about wanting to get rid of an Aegislash, having one was always a sign of power," He smiled. "I actually tried to catch a Honedge so I could get one but I kept getting interrupted."

The last sentence raised several more questions in Celestia's mind, but she shook her head and ignored them, deciding to focus on the situation at hoof. "I'm just going to talk to it."

She lit up her horn and cast the same translation spell that her sister had back at the library. "Greetings Aegislash," She said. "I am Princess Celestia and,"

The Pokémon caught her off guard by planting itself in the ground, the way a knight would his sword, and holding his shield and its cloth arm in front of its body. "Princess Celestia," It said. "You are truly worthy of the title of ruler, I pledge myself to your service, my Lady."

Celestia blinked in surprise. "Um, thank you, but that won't be necessary, I already have my own personal guards so… you can leave." The princess was honestly hoping the creature would listen to her and do as she asked, today was turning out to be a _very_ disappointing day for her.

The creature shook its head, the entire sword swiveling with it. "That is the one order I am not allowed to follow, my Lady. To abandon my post at your side would lead to the utmost disgrace."

Celestia's eye twitched slightly and she decided to change tactics. "Well… don't you have a family? Or friends?"

The Aegislash developed a forlorn look in its eye and appeared to be trying to remember something. "Friends," He said as if it were a foreign concept "… I believe I had such once, long ago, but I cannot remember."

Belle's eyes went wide with realization and she walked up to the princess. "I would refrain from asking it any questions about anything that might have to do with its past life, we don't know how it will react."

"Point taken." she nodded in agreement. While Princess Celestia had never met a being she would classify as a ghost, she didn't outright doubt their existence, and she still knew next to nothing about Earth or its inhabitants.

"Aegislash," she said, drawing the Steel-Types attention back to her. "I… thank you, for your generous offer, but I honestly have no need for yet another guard."

The Aegislash simply blinked, as if confused. "I cannot leave your side once I have pledged myself to your service." He said as if it were obvious. "To do so would be to break the warrior's code, and would bring about the utmost disgrace."

Celestia sighed, this was getting her nowhere. She turned back to the Pokémon. "Do any of you have any ideas for getting rid of this thing?"

Korrina shrugged. "Exorcism?" None of the others found that very amusing.

"Ghost-type Pokémon are notoriously hard to get rid of," Belle explained. "Even the weaker ones, and Aegislash is by no means, a weak Pokémon."

"You could knock it out and leave it here," Gene continued. "But I think they have some kind of internal radar that leads them to the one they deemed worthy."

Celestia sighed again. "So what you're basically saying is, I'm stuck with this thing?"

"Yeah."

"Pretty much."

"Yep."

They all mumbled in agreement.

"Perfect," Celestia grit her teeth in a grimace that could've been misinterpreted as a smile, if one was looking for a smile.

Almost two hours later the ponies and Pokémon exited the Everfree not far from where they had first entered. The sun was nearing the horizon and Luna was ready to raise the moon as they re-entered the still mostly abandoned Ponyville. The only beings in the street were a few odd little Pokémon. Pidgey, Pidove and Fletchling fluttered from rooftops and in bird baths while Patrats, Buneary and Zigzagoons scampered around in the flower beds, the few fountains they passed had Magikarp, Azurill and even a few stray Poliwag and Surskit living in them, all of them making themselves right at home in the little town.

"Everypony is sure in for a shock tomorrow when they wake up." Twilight remarked as she eyed a sleeping Glameow.

Belle giggled. "If _these_ Pokémon are going to shock them, then I don't want to see their reactions to something like an Onix or a Dusknoir."

Twilight ignored the comment and continued on to her library. When the exhausted group finally reached the library, most of the ponies, Princess Celestia included, collapsed into various seats around the room.

"Spike!" Twilight called. "We're back."

There was a clattering from upstairs and moments later the little drake appeared in the stairwell. "Hey guys," He said nonchalantly. "How'd it go?"

"How did it go?" Celestia asked. "I'll tell you how it went. That… conceited _god_ was no help whatsoever. He admitted to bringing the Pokémon here, but he refused to take them back. And now I have to figure out a way to convince an all-powerful being to get out of this world without him willing me out of existence." She looked Spike right in the eyes. "That's how it went."

Spike took a few steps back. "Uhh... Fluttershy," He turned to his friend. "Cubone and Togepi are asleep upstairs if you wanna see them."

Fluttershy and Misty nodded. "Thanks for looking after them." Fluttershy said as she and the Vaporeon trotted upstairs.

Luna walked over to her sister. "Tia?" she asked, seeing the stress in her sister. "I think it would be best if we were to return to Canterlot, get a good night's rest, and think over this situation more in the morning."

Celestia looked to her sister and, after a few seconds, nodded. "Yes, a good night's rest will calm my nerves… Twilight!"

The purple Alicorn sat up. "Yes, Princess?" She trotted over to her mentor.

"I want you and all of your friends to get a good night's rest, and then be on the first train to Canterlot tomorrow morning."

Rainbow Dash groaned.

"Of course, Princess," She said, disapprovingly eyeing her friend.

Celestia nodded. "Good… oh," She turned to the Pokémon. "And I want all of you on the train as well."

Korrina, once again leaning against one of the book shelves, rolled her eyes. "Fine."

Gene nodded but, after a moment, asked. "Where are we going to stay tonight?"

The ponies looked amongst themselves. None of them had actually considered that.

"We have an extra room at the farm." Applejack offered.

"And I have a guest room at my boutique." Rarity supplied.

"Boutique?" Korrina asked, raising an eyelid. "No thanks, that uppity boutique in Lumiose won't even let me in unless I quote "put on something a little less... over the top.' Nu uh," She walked over to Applejack and smiled. "Looks like Lucario and I are bunking with you."

Applejack smiled nervously. "Great." She was hoping that Gene and Belle were going to stay with her, partly to make up for acting as she had, partly because Korrina kinda scared her.

"Well then, darlings," Rarity said as she trotted over to Gene and Belle. "It appears you two will be staying with me for the time being." Gene and Belle smiled.

"Wait," Spike interrupted. "What about Misty?"

"Oh, I told Misty she could stay with me," Fluttershy said as she trotted down the stairs, Cubone and Togepi on her back and Misty beside her. "I mean, if that's ok with everyone."

Everyone agreed and after saying their goodbyes the Pokémon and ponies left to head to their homes and temporary residences, leaving the three princesses and Spike in the library with Aegislash.

Luna eyed the creature and leaned over to her sister. "Are we actually bringing it with us?" She whispered.

Celestia looked at the creature and smiled deviously. "Twilight, it has been great visiting, but I'm afraid my sister and I must return to Canterlot at once. We have to come up with a plan for everything after all."

Twilight nodded. "Of course Princess. And don't worry, I'll make sure everyone is on the train tomorrow morning."

Celestia grinned. "Perfect, see you tomorrow, then." She lit up her horn and before anyone else could react the sisters disappeared in a flash of light. Leaving Twilight, Spike, and a very confused sword in the library.

Aegislash stared at the spot where Celestia had been a moment before and, realizing she wasn't coming back, lifted itself several feet off of the ground and pointed itself so it floated parallel to the floor. Before Twilight could ask what it was doing the Pokémon began to spin, much like a compass trying to find north, until it stopped with its tip pointing in the direction of Canterlot.

The Royal Sword Pokémon dropped out of its tracking state and floated over to the door. It fumbled with the handle for a few moments before finally grasping it in its cloth hand and floating out the door in the direction of Canterlot.

"Ok, seriously though," Spike threw up his hands. "What the heck happened?"

Twilight sighed. "It's a long story, Spike."

* * *

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna appeared in the empty throne room in a flash of golden light.

"Do you really think that will stop it, sister?" Luna asked, referring to the Pokémon Celestia had left with Twilight.

"Perhaps, perhaps not." Celestia said. "But right now I just want to go to bed, it has been a remarkably long day and I want to be ready to come up with an actual plan tomorrow." She thought back to what Arceus had said to and shown her. "I don't think we're going to be able to win this one with any kind of brute force."

Celestia walked out of the throne room and down the many halls to where her, her sister's, and, despite her best attempts to remove it, Discord's bedrooms were.

"I just remembered that we left Professor Juniper alone with Bio Chem this entire time." Luna recalled the peculiar scientist pony. "Should we go get her?"

Celestia looked at her sister, pulling off a set of baby-doll eyes that would've made the Crusaders proud. "Fine I'll go make sure she's alright." Luna said, disgruntled.

"Thanks Luna." The sisters parted ways, Luna entering her room so she could exit from the balcony and Celestia continuing down the hallway a bit to get to her room. However as she passed Discord's room she noticed something, a note was taped to the door. Intrigued, Celestia trotted over to the door and read the note.

_Dear, __insert name here__. _

_Please do not enter the room of I, Discord, all-powerful lord of chaos at this date, time, place, and other. It appears that I __have xbegun losing powerx, x__am dying,x x__am falling in lovex, x__have fallen extremely illx,__ am shedding, yeah that's the one, shedding. It is any extremely uncomfortable experience, especially in the places where I have fur. _

_P.S. Tia, there's a message from the following creatures waiting for you in your room._

_King Halfpaw of Canida_

_Empress Victoria of Griffenhiem_

_King Trotankhamen of Zebrica_

_Princess Amira of Saddle Arabia_

_Cadence and Shiny called_

_Emperor Gold Horn of The Minoan Empire_

_Emperor Carapace of the Changeling Empire_

_Queen Oceania of Marelantis_

_Blueblood keeps complaining about something_

_Empress Serva of Stagland_

_Chief Thunderhooves of the Buffalo clans_

_Think that's about it… K, I gotta go x__take some aspirinx__ shed this old skin._

_With love, Discord._

Celestia scrutinized the letter and then knocked on Discord's door. She wasn't entirely sure, but she was fairly sure that Draconequus didn't shed. "Discord?" She called. "Are you alright?"

There was a thud from inside, followed by a groggy voice that she barely recognized as Discord's. "Tia," he whined. "Didn't you read my note? I'm shedding right now, go deal the angry letters I piled on your bed."

Celestia reeled back from the door in shock. This was not how Discord usually acted at all. _Maybe he really is shedding_. She thought. She glanced at the door once more and resolved to leave the spirit of chaos to his own devices until tomorrow.

Celestia opened the door to her own room and saw the multitude of scrolls piled on her bed. She sighed, deciding to read them now but to actually respond the next morning. She unraveled the first scroll, from the underwater kingdom of Marelantis, and began to read.

"Well, here we are." Rarity ushered the Psychic-types into Carousel Boutique. "Home sweet home."

* * *

"Wow," Gene marveled at the inside if the building. "This is surprisingly roomy for being inside a carnival ride."

Rarity smiled and gave the pair the rundown of her home. "Fairly simple really, we have the main room where my clients wait, my inspiration room where I work. Then here's the kitchen, the family room and upstairs we have my room and Sweetie's for when she stays over, the guest room, and the bathroom is at the end of the hall." Rarity normally took more pride when showing guests around but she had just spent most of the day tromping through the Everfree. "Make yourselves at home, I'm going to take a quick bath and then hop off to bed. "Ta-ta!" Rarity trotted into her room to take a bath in her private bathroom, leaving the Pokémon alone in the hallway.

"Well then, my love," Gene said with a bow. "Shall we retire?"

Belle giggled. "Oh, I suppose so." A devious grin developed on her face as she led Gene to the guest room. The room was surprisingly roomy for a simple guest room but neither of them complained.

Gene sat down on the bed. "You know, I'm kinda worried about this situation." he said.

"Oh, really?" Belle sat down on the opposite side of the bed and turned to him. "How so?"

Gene sighed. "I don't know what the princesses are planning, but if they somehow force or convince Arceus to put us back on Earth, or if Korrina or Misty or some of the other Trainers that Arceus brought convince him to turn us all human again… I'm finally able to be with you Belle, and I mean _really_ be with you." He looked her right in the eyes. "I don't want to lose that."

Belle smiled at her partner. "Gene, it doesn't matter to me what you are, or where we are, I love you, and nothing will ever change that."

Gene returned her smile after a moment. "I couldn't agree more." Gene pulled the covers over himself and his mate and was settling in when Belle pulled herself on top of him.

"You know," She said with a sultry look in her eyes. "You still have some promises to keep." She kissed him gently and Gene heard the door locking.

The pair reveled in the kiss for a few moments but once Belle broke it Gene voiced more of his concerns. "But what if Rarity-"

Belle shushed him with a finger to his lips. "I put a force field at the edge of the room." She explained. "You know, like what I did at the Pokémon Centers?" She kissed him again. "Don't worry, no one and nothing is getting in or out of here."

Gene smirked and flipped Belle over, pinning her underneath him and electing a small squeak from his mate. "In that case…"

* * *

Princess Luna walked alone through the halls of Canterlot Castle towards her own room. She had just shown Professor Juniper to one of the extra rooms after retrieving her from Bio Chem's lab. She had also given her the summary of the situation and, upon hearing that Arceus was to blame, would have turned white as chalk if she had still had blood.

Luna trotted down the hallway to her room and was mildly surprised to see Aegislash floating right outside of her sister's room, guarding the one he proclaimed ruler, Luna was still upset that it had chosen her sister over her.

The lunar alicorn entered her room and walked over to her bed, even without half the city in hiding she rarely had any petitioners to her night court. She wasn't upset about this however, because it just meant she could devote her nights to her most important duty, guarding the dreamscape. And she had a feeling that tonight would be one heck of a night for nightmares.

As Luna activated her own brand of magic and, immersing herself in the flow of magic, exited the material plan for the ethereal plane of dreams, she braced herself for whatever nightmares awaited her. She was utterly shocked.

In the dreamscape, Luna was able to fragment her consciousness so that she could look into the dreams of each pony and see which ones needed more than a simple nudge in a more peaceful direction. This also meant that Luna could fragment herself across the entire planet if necessary, she rarely did this, as it taxed even her magic to its limit. However on this night several things struck Luna as she entered the dreamscape, first and foremost, the sheer magnitude of the creature dreaming, not just nightmares. There were significantly more creatures dreaming than there had been the night before. With a start Luna realized that these were the Pokémon. Arceus had not lied when he said millions.

The second thing that struck Luna as she hunted through the dreamscape was the number of ponies, Pokémon, griffins, zebras, and every other sapient species on the planet, who were having nightmares. So many that the other countries of Equus were reaching out into the dreamscape and calling the lunar princess' attention to each one.

The final thing Luna noticed was the dark spot. This anomaly interested her the most and thusly she pulled most of her consciousness together to investigate it.

"The Everfree?" She asked aloud in curiosity. "And at the temple no less."

Luna was tempted to ignore the dark void and pass it off as Arceus toying with reality, but the sheer depth to the darkness drew her to it. As she neared the anomaly she realized something, she couldn't sense any of the legendary Pokémon. This struck her as odd because she could always sense living beings in the dreamscape even if they weren't asleep. As she pondered this, Luna's consciousness reached the edge of the void, and she immediately reeled back in fear.

Whatever was generating the void was pure nightmare magic, the darkest of the dream arts. And the most dangerous to control, only one being had ever mastered this art, and she was destroyed by the Elements of Harmony. "I-it can't be." Luna said in fear. "She was born of hatred and powered by nightmares, she is gone."

Luna again neared the void, worried for what she might find, and discovered she was right to do so. The void was reaching outward, shadowy tendrils permeated from the real world to the dreamscape and searched for their next victim. "To infect with nightmares of the most horrendous nature." She ventured.

Luna attempted to breach the darkness with her dream magic, only for her own spell to quickly become infected. She cut off the magic before the darkness could reach her. "It is not the Nightmare." Luna told herself. She had sampled a portion of the darkness as it traveled up her magic beam, the magical signature was completely different from Nightmare Moon's, or Luna's. In fact the Princess of the Night and Dreams had no idea what to make of it.

She pulled away from the void and resolved to confront Arceus about what type of monstrosity he was keeping within the temple. She didn't care how powerful the self-proclaimed god was, the dreamscape was her territory and only she would be influencing it.

Luna moved as far from the void as she could and began her task of cleaning up the mess that had been made. As she did, she saw the dreams of the multitude of beings. The ponies, the Pokémon, and the former humans.

While some of the beings had normal nightmares, most focused on the current issue. She saw ponies running from creatures that she assumed were Pokémon, colossal crows, living rock formations, and what appeared to be a swirling vortex of pain and misery attached to a small stone. She saw Pokémon being chased down by ponies, and griffins and other such creatures, as well as humans, although the main focus of the foreigners' dreams involved loss, confusion and fear. The worst being the former humans dreams, as most of them had no idea what was going on, and they feared for family and friends, although oddly enough a lot had been placed near each other.

One more thing Luna noticed was the sheer oddity of some of the creatures' dreams. She saw dreams through compound eyes and in colors she couldn't even explain. She sensed dreams that appeared to be shared by two or more beings, being either attached or linked to each other in some way. And, oddest of all, she seemed to see dreams through the eyes of creatures that saw in different dimensions or, on rare and extremely disturbing and migraine inducing occasions, saw _into_ different dimensions. It even appeared that she saw dreams of creatures that weren't alive, or were alive, but were spirits, all in all, it was the single most confusing and stressful night that Luna had experienced since Discord's rule.

It took all night, but she actually managed to make measurable progress in soothing the nightmares and fear, she had to openly reveal herself on more occasions than she ever had before, explaining the situation to confused Pokémon and former humans multiple times. And for once she actually found herself looking forward to the end of her shift.

However as she pulled her consciousness back together and began to return to her physical form, she was interrupted by a familiar voice. _"I believe… that I could have thought this part out better,"_ Arceus sighed and Luna looked around, attempting to spot the Pokémon, wherever he was. _"Thank you, Princess Luna."_ At this point Luna realized that the god's voice was coming from everywhere. Before she could say anything Luna was pulled from the dreamscape as her sister's sun overtook Equestria.

Luna jolted upright in her bed. "What is he going to do now?" Luna asked, slightly fearful of Arceus' next course of action


	10. Chapter 8

Rarity awoke from a rather enjoyable fashion star dream to a peculiar smell, breakfast. "Huh?" She asked groggily, rubbing an eye with a hoof. Normally, whenever she smelled food cooking, it was while Sweetie Belle was staying over, and it was almost always burning, forcing her to put out the fire, eat what her sister had cooked so as to not hurt her feelings, and cook something infinitely more edible later. But this smelled like actual food. "Who would that be?"

"Spritzee." The Fairy-Type fluttered from its resting place on Rarity's night stand and landed on the unicorn's horn. "Spritz."

Rarity smiled at the little Pokémon. "Good morning to you too, Spritzee."

Rarity threw on her robe and trotted downstairs to see who was cooking, Spritzee fluttering after her. She was surprised to see Gene and Belle standing in front of the stove. Gene was holding a spatula and whistling as he flipped pancakes and Belle was setting the table. What surprised Rarity most was that the utensils and plates that were floating into place.

"_Good morning, Miss Rarity,"_ Belle greeted her when she noticed the unicorn. _"I trust you slept well?"_

Rarity drew her attention away from the floating tableware and smiled. "Of course darling, and you?"

Belle smiled and turned to Gene, who was still flipping pancakes at the stove. _"It was perfect."_

Rarity looked at the pair quizzically for a moment but shrugged, figuring if anything had happened between them last night she would've heard it. Rarity trotted over to Gene and looked at the pancakes as he flipped the last one off of the stove and onto the pile.

"_Breakfast is served."_ He said with a smile, carrying the plate over to the table.

"Gene dear," Rarity said, eyeing the flapjacks. "Not that I'm ungrateful, very much the opposite actually, but whatever compelled you to make breakfast?"

Gene shrugged and answered. _"I had to make breakfast for my team every morning back on Earth, so I'm kinda used to getting up early."_ He glanced at Belle momentarily and, solely to his mate, said. _"Plus we had to get up early anyway to tidy up."_

The Gardevoir giggled softly, electing another quizzical look from Rarity. Noticing the unicorns glance's Belle decided to get off the subject of last night. _"Anyway,"_ She said. _"What time are we supposed to be at the train station?"_

Rarity took a sip of coffee that Gene had brewed. "Oh, I suppose that Twilight or Spike will be along shortly with the time." This wasn't the first time the group had been summoned to Canterlot. "But in the meantime, I must know dear, where did you get that dress? It is simply marvelous."

Belle looked at the fashionista in confusion. _"It's not a dress."_ She explained. _"It's part of me."_

Rarity's eyes went wide. "Wait, you're saying that your clothes are actually part of your body?"

Belle looked down at herself and then back at Rarity. _"They're not actually clothes, but yes."_

Rarity got out of her seat and walked over to the Pokémon. "Hmm," She picked up one of the sections of Belle's dress in her magic, somehow missing the startled "Eep!" that escaped the Gardevoir's lips and the glare that Gene shot her way. "Smooth, but it doesn't feel like skin at all, and so soft!"

"_Eh hem."_

Rarity looked up at the Fighting-type and noticed his glare and Belle's shocked expression and immediately dropped the dress. "Sorry." She walked back to her seat. "I just get excited about fashion and, as I said, I absolutely love your dress."

Belle sighed. _"It's alright,"_ She smirked. _"Just don't ask me for a sample."_

Rarity and Gene chuckled and the trio turned their attention to breakfast. After a while they began chatting.

"So," Rarity began. "How did you two meet?"

Gene smiled at Belle. _"You wanna tell it? Or should I?"_

The Gardevoir grinned. _"I'll do it."_ She turned to Rarity and held one hand to her temple and the other towards the unicorn. _"If I may."_

"Um… sure?" Rarity was a bit confused as to what was going on, but she thought Belle was going to activate the translator again. As she felt the Psychic-Type touch her mind she quickly realized this was not the case as she was engulfed in a flow of memories.

* * *

Gene's alarm clock went off and the boy groaned, he rolled over and fumbled for the sleep button. After a few more moments he managed to turn off the alarm and he almost went back to bed but after a few seconds he jolted up. "Today's the day."

He jumped out of bed and rushed to his closet, quickly changing into a white jacket and pants before throwing on his hat. After checking himself in the mirror he ran downstairs. His mother, cooking breakfast in the kitchen, heard him and stuck her head into the front room as he rushed for the door.

"Gene," she called. "I know you're excited, but could you at least come have some breakfast first?"

"No time, Mom, the boat leaves soon and I've gotta catch it." Gene grabbed his bag from by the door. "Bye."

"Just one more thing honey," She said as he opened the door and started outside. He stopped and looked back at her. "Happy birthday."

Gene smiled. "Thanks, Mom."

Gene closed the door and rushed out into Mossdeep City, he quickly made his way to the dock where two other kids, a boy from Pacifidlog Town and a girl all the way from Dewford Town waited, both of whom had come for the same reason as Gene, to get their first Pokémon.

"Hey," The girl greeted him. "I'm Sue."

"Zachary." The boy introduced himself.

"I'm Gene." He said.

The three explained where they had come from and talked about their plans and hopes. It wasn't long before a boat pulled up to the docks, two people, both dressed in blue with dark black hair, stood on the deck, facing the perspective trainers, anyone could've figured out they were twins after a few minutes in their company. The boy, Tate, had a Lunatone floating by his side, while his sister, Liza, had a Solrock at her side.

"Greetings." They said together.

"And welcome to the first day of the rest of your life." Tate finished.

His sister smiled.

"Forgive my brother," She said. "He can be a bit melodramatic."

"My point still stands." He defended himself. "Now come on," He waved the three fifteen year olds onto the boat. "We have a long way to go."

The excited teenagers onto the boat and his sister signaled the captain. As the boat started on its trip to its destination the twin Gym leaders gave a speech they had given many times before but always looked forward to. "Now I'll skip the part about being fifteen and getting your Pokémon, you already know that." Tate explained. "What I want to talk about are the specifics of how we give out Pokémon." The trio leaned in, not wanting to miss even one detail. "We don't."

The shocked and horrified expressions of the group's faces sent Tate into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. His Lunatone snickered along with him. Liza rolled her eyes. "What my brother means is that you don't just get to choose a Pokémon," She looked to the horizon and continued. "We're taking you to a special island that's populated mainly by Psychic-type Pokémon: Cerea Island. There you'll each have until sunset to find and capture your own Pokémon." She turned back to the group. "You can befriend them, or trick them, or bait them, but you'll each only get one Pokéball and a container of Pokémon food to work with, otherwise-"

"Otherwise you'll never be a Pokémon Trainer!" Her brother finished, once again provoking startled responses from the assembled teenagers.

"No," Liza corrected. "You'll either have wait a month before trying again or get a Pokémon from somewhere else." The group nodded in understanding.

"Now, the Pokémon on this island are actually pretty social, although they're not going to just jump into your arms. If you want their trust, you'll have to earn it." Tate said, finally becoming serious. "But it could be well worth it, there are _a lot_ of different species on this island, and not only from Hoenn, there are Kanto and Johto Pokémon as well, and even a few rarer ones from Sinnoh, Unova and even Kalos."

This got the group excited, getting their first Pokémon was good enough, but getting a rare Pokémon from a region like Unova would be a dream come true. After a few smaller directions the Gym Leaders retired below deck, leaving the hopefully future trainers alone.

"I hope I can find something cute," Sue said with a smile. "Like a Chimecho or a Spoink."

Zachary smirked. "I want something powerful, maybe an Abra or a Beldum as a start."

Gene smiled and stared in the direction the boat was headed. "I just want someone who I can call my partner."

"Aww." Sue cried. Zachary just rolled his eyes.

It wasn't long until an island came into view and, as if sensing that the destination had been reached, Liza and Tate ascended to the deck just as the boat pulled into the small dock.

"Alright, you three," Liza said as they disembarked. "Remember what we said and be back before sundown, with or without your Pokémon."

The group nodded and walked down the path that led to the forest, soon they came to a three way fork in the road. The one on the right led down to a craggy crevice surrounded by forest, the middle one led into dense woodland and upwards to a large plateau and the leftmost path led down to a pleasant lake by a waterfall.

"I'm heading up there." Zachary pointed towards the plateau. "Bet I can find a Beldum up there." He headed down the path leading into the woods.

"Then I'm going that way." Sue ran down toward the lake, where she hoped to find some cute Pokémon near the calm waters. "See you back at the boat!" She cried to Gene as she left.

Gene, now alone, looked down the final path leading into crevice. "Perfect place for Solrock, Lunatone, Beldum," He smiled. "Or Bronzor, if I get lucky."

About an hour later, Gene was walking through one of the little craggy crevices that made up the valley. He had seen no Pokémon save for a few Flying-types that had fled at the sight of him.

"And not even a Natu," He sighed. "This might be harder than I thought. " He walked for a few minutes more and would've continued had something not caught his attention. Above his head and spanning the length of the crevice was a fallen tree, the kind Pokémon used for crossing. And walking across that tree was a tiny green and white figure that Gene recognized as a Ralts.

He smiled at the little Pokémon as it crossed the tree bridge, arms held out in either direction to help keep its balance. Gene watched the little Pokémon for a moment before continuing, it was too high up to risk getting its attention, he didn't want to startle the little creature and make it fall. However as Gene neared the underside of the bridge and the Ralts reached the center a strong gust swept through the crevice, it was only a mild annoyance to Gene but it was a major problem for the Ralts.

Unable to keep her balance in the sudden wind the Psychic-type began to fall, she flailed wildly, trying to keep her balance, but ultimately toppled over and fell into the crevice below.

Gene witnessed the entire thing and gasped as he watched the little Pokémon fall. "No!" Gene dove for the Ralts and intercepted her before she reached the ground. "Gotcha!"

"Ralts?" The tiny Psychic-type looked up at her rescuer.

"You alright?" He asked, placing the Feeling Pokémon on the ground.

"R-Ralts." She answered nervously.

Gene heard the fear in her voice and sighed. "Don't worry," He said, rooting through his bag. "I'm not gonna catch you, not if you don't want me to." He pulled out a cylindrical container and uncapped it. "Hungry?' He asked, holding the food canister.

"Ralts." She answered, she still wasn't entirely sure about the human, but she was hungry. She grabbed the canister and began eating, Gene smiled as she did and decided, since it was almost noon, that he would have his own lunch. He unpacked and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while the Ralts watched his every move.

"Well," He said after finishing his lunch. "I gotta get going, I only have until sundown to find a Pokémon who'll be my partner." He stood up and looked down at the little Psychic-type. "Unless you'd like to join me."

When the Ralts looked away from the human, Gene sighed. "I understand," He began walking further down into the valley. "You can keep that, by the way."

Ralts just watched as the human walked away, confused by the way he acted. Some of the other Pokémon who had been here longer said that a lot of humans just wanted to catch Pokémon, but this one seemed nice. Ralts just shrugged and continued to eat the Pokémon food, unaware of the shadowy figure creeping up behind her.

Meanwhile, further down the path, Gene was still looking for any Pokémon. "Maybe I should've tried harder with the Ralts." He said to himself, he would be beyond disappointed if he had to return him without a Pokémon. He was considering scaling the walls of the crevice so he could search the forest, but was interrupted when a childlike cry came from behind him.

"RALTS!" Gene immediately turned around and began to run in the opposite direction.

"Hang on!" He ran until he reached the same bridge he passed previously, and there he saw the same Ralts from before. She was slowly backing away from a Hypno who was advancing on the little Pokémon.

"Hypno." It said threateningly.

"R-Ralts." Gene had no idea what was going on, but he didn't care, he could see that Ralts was scared and he intended to do something about the Hypno threatening her. Neither of the Pokémon had noticed Gene yet, and the boy decided to take advantage of this. Grabbing a branch that had fallen from a tree hanging over the crevice, Gene ran over to the Hypno just as it had backed Ralts into a corner.

"Hypno!" The Hypnosis Pokémon loomed threateningly over Ralts and prepared to strike.

Ralts closed her eyes and covered her head with her tiny hands. "Psy-"

CRACK!

The Hypno's move was interrupted as a club like branch was broken over his head. The Psychic-type crumpled to the ground and Ralts opened her eyes, seeing the same human from before standing over the unconscious Pokémon holding a broken tree branch.

"You alright?" He asked, worried for the little Pokémon.

"Ralts, Ralts, Ralts, Ralts?" She asked him, gesturing at the Hypno.

Gene took a moment to try and figure out what she was asking. "If you're asking why, I wasn't going to let you get hurt."

He pulled the Pokéball he had been given earlier and looked down at the unconscious Hypno. It was already unconscious, and Liza and Tate had said to use whatever means necessary. Plus starting out with a fully evolved Pokémon would probably give him an advantage.

But as he looked down at the Ralts who was now looking up at him in curiosity he couldn't forget how it had scared the little Pokémon. Then he got an idea and a grin. "Hey, Ralts?"

Ralts looked up at him quizzically. "Ralts?"

"I know I kinda already asked, but I'm gonna do it officially this time." He kneeled down and looked her right in the eyes. "Ralts, will you be my partner Pokémon?"

At first the little Psychic type was going to refuse, but she paused in her rejection, she thought about how nice Gene had been to her. "I don't really know what's gonna happen," he said, noticing her contemplation. "But I can promise you that we'll go a lot of new places, meet people and Pokémon," He looked her directly in the eyes. "And that I'll never leave you behind."

Ralts couldn't help but smile, she could sense that he was being sincere. She looked up at him, Gene was smiling and was holding the Pokéball out to her. "What do ya say?"

Ralts thought for a moment then smiled again. "Ralts!" She ran forward and hugged him.

"I'm guessing that's a yes then?" He asked with a smile.

"Ralts." The little Psychic-Type took a few steps back, she scrunched her nose as she looked at the Pokéball.

Noticing her discomfort Gene smiled and explained. "Don't worry, I won't keep you in there, it's just so no one else can catch you." Gene had no idea how a Pokéball worked, but he was a little uncomfortable with keeping a living creature in a capsule no bigger than a baseball.

"Ralts." Ralts sensed that he was telling the truth and decided to get the unpleasant part over with, she tapped the white button in the center and was engulfed in red light. For a moment she couldn't sense her surroundings in any way, like she was half asleep, but soon a bright white light engulfed her and she was again standing in front of the human.

He smiled and picked her up. "Welcome aboard." He said, placing her on his shoulder. "I'm Gene by the way."

"Ralts." She cried happily. Gene smiled.

"You know," He said as he began walking back to the dock. "I want all my Pokémon to stand apart from others, so I've been thinking of giving you a name." he looked over to her. "But first off, are you a boy or a girl?"

"Ralts!" She cried indignantly.

"Uhhh, girl then?" Gene asked, taking a shot in the dark.

She nodded and crossed her arms, pouting slightly. Gene chuckled. "Alright then, how about Melody?"

"Ralts." She shook her head.

"Um, Emma?"

She stuck out her tongue. "Alright," Gene tapped his chin. "I know!" he grabbed her and held her in front of him. "I'll call you Belle!"

She considered the name for a moment, then smiled. "Ralts!" Belle cried happily as Gene put her back on his shoulder.

* * *

Rarity gasped as she the memories faded. "W-what," She shook her head. "What was that?"

"_That,"_ Gene explained. _"Was the first time Belle and I met."_

Rarity looked at the pair in confusion. "But that was, and you were, and you…" Rarity might have been able to form a complete sentence had someone not knocked at the door.

"Rarity!" Spike called. "Twilight says we have to leave soon!"

Rarity sighed. "Tell him I'll be down in a minute." She said to the Pokémon as she trotted upstairs. Her questions would have to wait until later.

* * *

Korrina blinked awake and stretched in the bed Applejack had let her use the night before. She looked around and saw Lucario where he had been the night before, legs crossed at the foot of the bed. The pair had decided last night that the circumstances constituted the necessity that only one of them should sleep in the bed. Lucario had given the bed to Korrina, deciding that his stressed trainer needed it more than he did.

Suddenly a knock at the door jolted the Aura Pokémon awake. "Korrina! Lucario! Time for breakfast!" Apple Bloom called before trotting off.

"Good morning, Korrina." he said as he stood up and stretched. "Big day ahead." In truth, Lucario engaged in this idle chit chat with his trainer every morning, she just didn't understand him.

"Yeah...you think that Princess has a chance of getting Arceus to send us home?" She was certain Arceus was older, more powerful, and was reasonably sure he was wiser than the Alicorn, but since Princess Celestia was their best chance of getting home Korrina was hoping she had a secret weapon, and a plan.

The shrugged. "I don't know. She is powerful; her aura shines like the sun, but she is not as powerful as any of the legendaries whom I've met so far, save for perhaps Lord Deoxys."

"Yeah, but in all fairness, those were the most powerful Pokémon in the world." Korrina grabbed her helmet from where she had dropped it last night. She stepped into her boots/roller skates, which had somehow reshaped to fit her feet. And turned back to her partner, smiling. "Now come on, I want breakfast."

Lucario smiled and followed his partner out of the room. He had known her since he had been a Riolu, and had met her at the same time she had caught him and his rival, the same Lucario who had joined the Trainer who had stopped Team Flare. The pair hadn't been rivals before Korrina had caught them but it had grown between them as they attempted to gain Korrina's favor. But ever since he had left, he and Korrina had grown closer as partners, she used him in battles more, kept him in his Pokéball less, and spent more time training with him.

Lucario was still amazed that a human was strong enough to smash boulders with a single kick. Relatedly, her training had been part of what started his and his rival's rivalry, the fact that their trainer was so… strong had set the two fighting for her attention ever since they had evolved. They both wanted her undivided attention, and two Lucario had trouble sharing anything.

For whatever reason, Lucario couldn't get stop thinking about Korrina. It had been that way since the pair had awoken on Sweet Apple Acres the day before.

* * *

Lucario woke up face down in a pile of leaves. "Ugh," He pushed himself up and rubbed his head. "What happened?" The Aura Pokémon looked around in confusion. "This is not Shalour City," Then he saw the being lying unconscious next to him, for a moment he thought it was Korrina, the helmet and boots were the same, but he discarded that idea when he saw the yellow, blue and black coat that matched his own. "And you're not Korrina."

He stood up and walked around to get a better view of the Lucario. It was then that he noticed that it was a _she_. This surprised Lucario because he had never seen a female Lucario before, his species was primarily male. The next thing that surprised him was that she was wearing Korrina's helmet.

"How did you get that?" He asked, not expecting a response.

"Quiet," The Lucario said. "I feel like there's a Noibat in my head."

Lucario reeled back in shock, he recognized that voice. "K-Korrina?"

Korrina opened her eyes. "Yeah, it's me, Shalour City Gym Leader and," She saw her Lucario looking at her, mouth open and eyes wide. "Oh, hey, Lucario," She stood up and looked around. "Who was talking?"

Lucario stood up and looked his trainer right in the eyes, he took a deep breathe. "Korrina, is that you?" He was almost certain the answer was yes, his power to see a being's aura was telling him that this Lucario was Korrina, but he had to know for sure.

This time Korrina's jaw dropped. "Sweet Arceus, you can talk?!"

Lucario looked at his Trainer, dumbstruck. "Korrina... something is _really_ wrong."

"You're telling me," She said, shaking her head. "Pokémon aren't supposed to be able to talk."

"Well, they can actually," He corrected. "But only to other Pokémon."

Korrina raised an eyebrow and gestured to herself. "How does that explain this?"

Lucario facepawed. "Korrina, look at your hands."

The Gym leader looked at her partner quizzically for a moment. "Alright," She said after a while. "But I don't-" Korrina stopped as she saw her hands, well, paws actually. "H-how?" She looked up her arm, and down her body. "I'm a – I'm a –!" She looked to her partner. "Lucario?"

He nodded.

Korrina sat down and held both paws to her head. "What happened last night?" She asked. "I barely remember falling asleep."

"I vaguely remember passing out." Lucario said. "But after that…"

Korrina pushed herself upright. "Well, sitting around here isn't going to solve anything," Korrina was not the type to stand by and let something happen. "We need to find someone."

She looked around and just managed to spot the top of a windmill over the trees. "Come on." She started down towards the direction of the windmill, where she hoped she would find a farm. "No use sitting around like a couple a Cascoon."

Lucario sighed and followed Korrina through the trees. "Same old Korrina." He smiled and looked up at her. "And I wouldn't change a thing about her."

* * *

"Well, howdy, young un's." Granny Smith said with a smile as the Pokémon walked into the kitchen. "Hope y'all slept well."

"Just fine, Miss Smith." Korrina said with a smile. Applejack, Apple Bloom, Big Mac and Granny Smith all developed confused looks on their faces. "What?"

"Ah think Princess Luna's spell wore off." Applejack explained.

"Lucario?" She asked.

"Yeah, we can't understand a word yer sayin'." Applejack said bluntly.

Korrina's ears drooped. "Luu..."

"Oh don't worry too much now," Applejack said with a smile. "Once we meet up with the others Ah'm sure Twilight can cast the spell again."

Korrina grunted, still upset, but sat down and started eating the breakfast the Apple family member had set for her.

The group sat in silence for most of the meal, with the Apples occasionally talking amongst themselves, but soon after everyone had finished, a knock was heard at the front door. "Oh, thank goodness." Applejack sighed in relief, this morning had turned very awkward, very fast. "Ah'll get it." Applejack trotted to the door and opened it.

"Hi, AJ." Dash greeted. "Twilight sent me to get you, and Korrina, and Lucario. We have to get to the train station."

"Alright," Applejack said. "Just wait here." She ran back inside where Korrina and Lucario were waiting in the kitchen. "Time ta go." The Aura Pokémon nodded and walked past the mare. "Ah should be back soon." She said to her family.

"Just be safe would ya?" Granny Smith said. "It seems like every time ya go away somethin' dangerous always happens."

Applejack smiled. "Ah'll try." She said before trotting out the door.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle exited the Golden Oaks library, saddle bags strapped to her sides, filled with several different books and a few snacks. "Alright," She said, looking towards town. "Let's go".

Earlier, she had sent Spike to get Rarity and had sent Owlowiscious to Rainbow Dash with a note, if everything went according to plan Rainbow would get Applejack and Fluttershy and they would all met up at the train station.

That still meant Twilight had to get Pinkie Pie from Sugarcube Corner, and thus deal with the multitude of ponies who would doubtlessly have questions. Questions that she, as a princess, would have to answer, something she couldn't do without causing mass panic.

Twilight trotted past a few of the shops on the way to Sugarcube Corner but saw nothing, then as she neared her destination she heard screaming.

"Slurpuff puff puff slur!" Twilight had no idea what was happening, but she broke into a gallop. As she neared Sugarcube Corner, she saw a large crowd of ponies gathered outside the store front. She pushed her way past them all and stopped when she reached the center.

Pinkie Pie was running around in a circle like a mad mare on the run. Except that she wasn't the one on the run. Pinkie was chasing what, for all intents and purposes, looked like a giant cupcake with arms and legs.

After a moment Twilight recovered from the shock. "Pinkie Pie," She called sternly. "Have you been playing with Zecora's potions? Again?"

"No way, Twilight." The Earth Pony called back excitedly. "I just found this giant cupcake at the door this morning, so naturally I figured somepony must've left it for me as a gift," She stopped as she neared her friend. "But once I tried to bite into it, it ran away from me. Weird huh?"

Twilight facehoofed. "Pinkie," She said in exasperation. "You remember how yesterday Gene told us that Pokémon have a lot of different looks?"

"Uh huh."

Twilight waited a moment in case she got the point, then continued. "Do you think that maybe this thing," She gestured to the Slurpuff hiding underneath a nearby table. "Could be a Pokémon?"

Pinkie looked to the Pokémon, then to her friend, then back at the Pokémon, then at Twilight again, then back at the Pokémon. "Oooohhh." She said in realization. "Then I better go apologize."

As soon as Pinkie went to apologize for trying to eat the Pokémon Twilight found herself bombarded by a multitude of questions.

"What is-?"

"What are-?"

"Where-?"

"Time stream!"

"How-?"

"Pinkie sense-"

"One at a time!" She shouted, quieting the ponies. "Now I understand that a lot of… things have… developed in a very short time, but I assure you, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are doing everything in their power to fix this situation." _I hope._

* * *

"Discord! Come out here at once!" Celestia pounded on the Draconequus' door, attempting to rouse the sleeping serpent.

"I do not think he is coming out, sister." Luna said, taking a sip of coffee. "Perhaps we should leave him."

"Not a chance, Luna. You said it yourself. Discord is the only one who comes close to matching Arceus in power."

"Would you like me to chop down the door my lady?" Aegislash asked, attempting to please his master.

Celestia sighed. "No, Aegislash." She was slightly upset that the sword had followed her home, more so that it had been staring directly at the door when she exited her room that morning. "He'll come out, or I'll come in and get him!" Celestia began to pound on the door again, but before she could deliver the first blow the door swung open and Celestia fell face first into the chaos Lord's bedroom.

"What do you want, Tia?" He sounded like he had a cold. "I told you I was busy."

"Discord," She said, walking over to his bed. "Are you… actually sick?" The last time that Discord had gotten sick, he had been faking the blue flu and Luna had bucked him out of Canterlot after he annoyed her with his request for water.

"No," He said, sniffling. "Maybe, I don't know, I've never actually been sick before, but this is a lot like all the times I played sick so I could stay home from school."

"Did you even go to school?" Luna asked.

Discord snapped his talons and pointed at Luna. "That's why it never worked."

Celestia rolled her eyes and walked over to Discord. She scanned him to see if anything was actually wrong with him and was shocked at the results. "You're weak."

Discord shot a glare at the princess. "And you're judgy."

"No, I mean your powers, they're not at their normal levels."

"How is that possible?" Luna wondered aloud. "Even the Elements couldn't weaken Discord, that's why they turned him into a statue."

"I'm not sure but… Discord?" She asked, developing an idea. "How closely are you tied into the natural chaotic forces of Equestria?"

"I _am_ the natural chaotic forces of Equus," Discord replied. "But I think what you mean was how does the natural chaos magic of Equestria affect me, the answer… I just realized something's wrong with the Everfree."

Discord sat up. "Did you two do something with your stupid tree again?"

"No." They answered in tandem, the pair made a point never to mess with the Tree of Harmony unless they absolutely had to.

"Well someone's messing with the forest." Discord stood up, wobbling slightly. "And it's draining my magic."

"How?" Luna asked. "Aren't you chaos incarnate or something?"

"Yes Lulu, I am in fact the embodiment of chaos." Discord frowned. "But that means that all chaos stems from me. And whatever is draining the chaos from the Everfree is causing a drain on my powers because that beautiful forest is trying to draw more power from the source of all chaos, me."

"Oh my," Celestia said, genuine worry in her voice. "Are you going to be alright?"

Discord waved a paw at her. "Of course, once whatever this thing is is done converting the Everfree the forest will lose touch with chaos completely and then it will stop draining me," _Unless I can stop it_. He sighed. "In the meantime, I suppose I'll need something to keep it from draining me any further, some kind of force field or-"

"Bio Chem!" Celestia walked out of the room, once again to bother the stallion, normally she'd go to a Unicorn for a problem involving magic but A.) No one at her school was brave enough to study chaos magic in any form, let alone how to control it. and B.) They'd already bothered him before, why inconvenience anyone else.

"Wait, no!" Discord said, chasing after her. "I said force field, not cutting me open!"

* * *

Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie arrived at the train station to find that Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Spike, Gene, Belle, Korrina, Misty, Lucario, Togepi, and Cubone were already there and waiting.

"Wow," Pinkie said as she trotted up to the group. "This is the biggest group we've ever taken to Canterlot to visit the Princess."

"Yeah." Twilight agreed, suddenly unsure of the prospect of parading a group of unknown creatures through Canterlot.

"Hey, Princess?" Gene walked over to Twilight. "Do you think you could cast that translation spell from yesterday on us? Belle doesn't like to admit it, but supporting a translator on this many... beings, makes her tired."

Twilight smiled. "Of course." She concentrated and cast the spell, it traveled outward in a shock wave as it had last night and hit everyone in the vicinity.

"Thanks." Gene said as he walked back over to his mate.

Twilight watched the group for a moment, then she started to consider what might happen once they all got to Canterlot. _What if somepony calls the royal guards?_ She thought worriedly. Trying to explain getting a bunch of strange creatures into Equestria's capital would be hard enough normally, add in the fact that one of them had swords on its arms…

"Ugh," She groaned to herself. "Why does everything always have to be so difficult?" Before Twilight could consider any other scenarios the train pulled into the station and the conductor stepped out.

"All aboar-" Seeing the creatures standing on the platform scared the poor stallion so bad he tried to run back inside.

"Hold it." Twilight stopped the door with her magic. "We're all heading to Canterlot," She explained. "Are there any cars without any other passengers in them?"

The conductor looked between the princess and the rest of the group for a moment. "R-right this way, please." He gestured the group towards the first car on their left, completely empty.

"Thank you." Twilight said happily. The conductor watched as the six mares, baby dragon and eight Pokémon piled into the car. He smiled at them nervously and then headed to the engine, leaving the group alone.

Once the door behind the conductor had been shut Rainbow and Pinkie started laughing. "Girls," Twilight berated. "That's not funny."

"Oh lighten up Twi," Rainbow chuckled. "Did you _see_ that guys face? Priceless."

Twilight giggled softly, remembering that stallion's expression when he had seen the Pokémon. "I guess it was a little funny."

Soon after the train started on its journey to Canterlot. "Alright every... body," Twilight said, getting up and beginning to pace. "Once we get to Canterlot we're going to have to get to the palace, hopefully Princess Celestia informed the palace guards of our arrival, but if she hasn't then-"

"Hold up Twi," Applejack interrupted. "Why would you be worried 'bout the guards? Can't you just, ya know, order 'em ta let us in?"

Twilight froze in place. "Oh, um, I didn't really think about that." Twilight's friends all laughed as the violet mare blushed.

"One thing, though." Misty said once the ponies stopped laughing. "How are all the ponies going to react when they see us? Didn't you say they'd freak?"

"Oh, don't worry too much darling," Rarity assured. "Unlike in Ponyville, Canterlot ponies are not as apt to 'freak' when faced with the unusual."

"You sure, Rares?" Rainbow asked. "Because unless you count the Changelings I don't think Canterlot has really been exposed to anything 'unusual.'"

"Please, Dash, these ponies are the very picture of serenity, they've spent years mastering control of their emotions."

"Alright," Dash consented. "But if everypony starts screaming when we get off the train, I'm gonna say I told you so."

The group spent a few more minutes discussing Canterlot but soon fell to chatting amongst themselves. While her friends chatted, Twilight was content to just stare out the window and watch Equestria roll by.

Thankfully, and for the first time in two days, no complications arose in the journey, no Pokémon attacked the train and no one even bothered the group in their car. And as the train pulled into the station Twilight sound herself thinking that everything might finally go right.

As Twilight and the others exited the train they were surprised to see that most Ponies seemed to be going about their day normally. "So far, so good." She muttered.

And as the group began their journey to Canterlot castle it seemed that what Rarity had said was true, until they rounded a corner and encountered their first group of royal guards.

"Hold it still already!"

"It can't, it keeps trying to bite me!"

"Grrrr Ruff! Ruff!"

What Twilight saw were three royal guardsmen surrounding what, to her, looked like a creature that was supposed to be locked in Tartarus. It was wolf-like and almost as tall as a pony. Its coat was pitch black over most of the body, but was bright orange on the muzzle and underbelly. The horns that shot out from where its ears should've been were silver, and looked like they were made of metal, the same substance striped its back and ringed its paw as well as formed a necklace like ring around its neck with what looked a skull as the real clincher was the spiked tail that looked exactly like a demon's.

"Oh, my word." Applejack whispered.

"What is it?" Dash asked, not expecting an answer.

"A Houndoom." Belle explained.

"Let me go!" The Dark Pokémon barked at its would-be captors.

Gene's eyes went wide as he heard the Houndoom speak. "Is that…?"

The Houndoom sniffed the air, as if finding something familiar, and looked over to the group. "Belle?" It asked.

"Fang!" Gene shouted happily. "Come here boy."

"Are you crazy!?" Twilight shouted.

Fang was very confused for a moment, then, smelling the air again, he caught a whiff, just a hint, of a scent he had memorized when he was just a pup, a smell that, to him, meant one thing. Home.

"G-Gene?" He asked in disbelief. The Gallade nodded. "Gene!" Fang's spiked tail wagged happily. The Dark Pokémon looked at the circle of Pegasi around him, and then jumped over the nearest stallion, using his head as a boost, and ran happily over to his Trainer.

"Fang!" Gene shouted as his Pokémon tackled him to the ground, electing a gasp from the ponies, and began happily licking his face. "Ack! Fang it's good to see you, too. Down boy, down!" He said laughing. The Fire-Type leaped off of his trainer and sat obediently next to his longtime trainer and friend.

"Gene?" He asked as his trainer pushed himself up. "Where are we? And why are you a Gallade?"

Gene sighed and patted Fang on the head. "It's a long story, Fang, one that we're probably going to have to recount soon anyway, so-"

"Stand down!" Gene looked up to see the three Pegasus guards who had been attacking Fang standing in front of them, two of them holding swords in their mouths. "Away from the Princess!"

Gene glared at the stallion, he had no sympathy for anyone who tried to harm Pokémon, let alone _his_ Pokémon. "Hey!" He shouted, startling the guards with his ability to speak. "What were you doing to my Houndoom?"

"Gene," Twilight said, walking past the Blade Pokémon. "Let me handle this."

Twilight walked up to the guards as regally as she could, then, to the leader of the group, asked. "What's going on here?"

The guards saluted. "We were attempting to capture a dangerous creature, Your Highness," He pointed to Fang, who cocked his head slightly. "We received several attempts about it scaring ponies so we made to remove it."

"Oh come on," Gene said in exasperation. "How could anyone find this face scary?" Fang glared at the Pegasi and growled. Everypony took a few steps back.

"Princess?" One of the guards asked. "What's going on?"

"Don't worry about that," She answered. "Just, uh, keep up the good work I guess, but don't attack anymore odd creatures unless you try to talk to them first." Twilight noticed that her statement was about to bring forth more questions. "That's an order."

The guards saluted and cantered off, leaving the ponied alone once again. "Ok," Twilight turned around and looked at Gene, the Gallade was crouched down and petting his Houndoom while talking to him. "What is-?"

"This is Fang, he's a Houndoom and he's one of my Pokémon." Gene answered. "And no, he's not going to hurt you, despite his fierce appearance he's really just a big puppy dog."

Fang rolled his eyes.

Twilight rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Alright, just, come on." The group once again set off towards the palace, this time with most of the ponies, save for Pinkie Pie, giving Gene, Belle and Fang a wide berth.

"Finally," Twilight said as the gates came into view. "We're here." Twilight trotted up to the gates and walked past the guards standing in front. She turned back when she heard the sound of metal clinking against metal and saw most of her friends and all the Pokémon being blocked from entering by the guards' spears.

Twilight sighed again. "Let them pass."

"But Princess-"

"That's an order." The last part came out a little harsher than she had intended but it got the point across, and soon the group were inside the castle and being led to the meeting room by a guard who had been waiting for them inside.

"Whoa," Korrina whistled. "This place puts Parfum Palace to shame."

"What's that?" Pinkie asked.

"It's a castle back in the Kalos region." She explained.

The group was silent for a few minutes until they reached the meeting room. "The Princesses are waiting inside." The guard assured before trotting off.

"Why are all the guards identical?" Gene asked absently.

"It's a spell on their armor," Spike explained. "Don't worry, it confused me at first, too."

Twilight smiled, remembering the time she and Spike had spent in Canterlot, and opened the door.

"-Now that should keep you separated from Equus' magical field but keep your own personal magic working at its normal level." Bio Chem explained as he finished strapping an altered magical suppressor around the Draconequus' neck.

Celestia and Luna stood watching the exchange, along with Luna's Swablu, perched on the lunar Alicorns horn, and Professor Juniper. Once Celestia noticed that the others had arrived she smiled. "Welcome everyone, please come in."

As everyone filed into the room Fluttershy ran over to Discord.

"Discord?" she asked. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, I'm fine, Fluttershy," He said, finally having cleared himself of the sniffles. "Just suffering from a bit of chaos withdrawal is all."

"Not anymore." Bio Chem replied. He looked around the room, eyeing the various Pokémon. "Interesting."

"I hate to be rude," Celestia interjected before the scientist started anything. "But we have a matter of the utmost importance to discuss, so…"

It took Bio Chem a moment to take the hint. "Oh, right, official Princess and heroine business," The stallion trotted over to the doorway. "Bye, Twilight."

"Bye." Twilight replied.

"You know him?" Discord asked.

"We were science partners when I was a filly." She answered, confusing most of her friends.

Before anyone could ask another question Celestia spoke up. "Everyone, I suggest you get comfortable, we're going to be here awhile."

Twilight and the other ponies took seats in various chairs surrounding a large table in the center of the room. Gene and Belle did likewise and Fang curled up between the two. Fluttershy let Togepi and Cubone off of her back and the two baby Pokémon immediately ran over to Spike who was tackled to the ground. Korrina and Lucario sat opposite of Gene and Belle and Korrina picked Misty up and set her on the table. Discord materialized a movie set and a bucket of popcorn.

Seeing everyone gathered gave Celestia new hope that this problem could be solved. "Now-"

The door squeaked open and a nervous looking guard stuck his head in. "P-p-p-Princess?" He stammered. "T-there's something here to s-see you."

"Well tell them-" Celestia stopped when she registered the stallions choice of words. "Thing?"

She ran to the door, followed by her sister and Twilight, and shoved the doors open with her magic.

The alicorns all stopped cold when they saw the creature waiting for them. It was bipedal and just barely humanoid in appearance, but instead of walking on two legs it chose to float several inches off the ground. Its skin was grey and purple and its purple tail swished behind it lazily. Its head was somewhat cat like and it had a tube reaching from the back of its head to its neck, it had fingers, but instead of normal ones its digits ended in bulbs.

"_Greeting Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Twilight Sparkle,"_ Its voice was deep and unearthly, which made sense considering. _"I am Mewtwo."_ He looked between the Princesses, judging their various levels of shock. _"Lord Arceus sends his regards."_


	11. Chapter 9

_Why me?_ Celestia thought as she gaped at the Pokémon before her. _Why don't things like this happen to the Griffins or Zebras?_ Of course the Princess didn't voice any of this, instead she stepped forward and greeted the Pokémon. "Greetings Mewtwo, and welcome to Canterlot… how did you get in here?"

The Genetic Pokémon smirked. _"I teleported to Canterlot at my lord's request, and after I… removed a few obstacles outside, your guards let me in."_

Celestia looked to the shaking guard at her side and excused him, and he was out of the room before she even finished her sentence. "What are you doing here?" There was no question she was upset that the Psychic-type had scared her guards. "What does Arceus want?"

"_Lord Arceus believes it would be beneficial if our races had the means to communicate with each other, I'm here to represent the Pokémon in any dealings that occur."_

After a moment Twilight figured out what he meant. "You mean, you're an ambassador?"

Mewtwo nodded. _"I believe that is the term Lord Arceus used."_

Celestia swallowed nervously. "Don't you believe," She began. "That a representative who is… closer to us in appearance would help soothe the transition?" While Celestia did feel that this was true, it was more that she could sense the power radiating form Mewtwo, and after seeing Arceus' display, it made her nervous.

"Yes," Luna quickly agreed. "Like the young stallion we encountered at the temple yesterday… what was his name?"

"_Keldeo, as he is known, is not well suited for this position."_ Mewtwo explained. _"To quote a friend, 'He has great potential, but he is cocky, headstrong and lacks patience.'"_

Celestia shook her head. "Fine," Now she was more eager than ever to start the meeting. "Phalanx!" A Pegasus guard, different from the one who had interrupted the meeting, rounded the corner. "Take Lord Mewtwo," She glared at the Pokémon, who smirked at the title. "To the dignitary wing and give him a room, and whatever else he requires."

"Y-yes your highness," The stallion said, nervously eyeing the Psychic-type. "P-please follow me sir."

Mewtwo smiled and bowed to the Princesses. _"Much obliged, your highnesses."_ Mewtwo floated after the guard but before he vanished from sight, turned back and spoke as if he were still right next to the ponies. _"And I trust that, in the event of an official meeting, you will contact me? I'd hate to have to burst in unannounced."_ The legendary turned back and floated out of sight.

"Now one of them is in the castle." Luna shook her head. "I do not like where this is going, sister."

Celestia just shook her head and turned around, walking back into the conference room, where she was greeted by the sight of Professor Juniper and Gene staring at each other. "What is-?"

She was interrupted when the Psychic-types leapt at each other, electing a gasp from all except Belle and Fang, and grabbed each other in a hug. "Gene!" Juniper cried, breaking away from the Gallade. "It's been too long."

"I know," He sighed. "I would've visited but,"

"I know," Juniper stopped him. "Iris told me what happened." Gene looked away from the professor. "But it's still good to see you!" She said. "And you too Belle."

"Ok, back up," Twilight said to Gene. "What and who is that and how do you know her?"

Gene smiled at the Alicorn. "Everyone, this is Professor Juniper, a Pokémon researcher and a good friend of mine."

"The 'what' is a little complicated," Juniper explained. "I'm currently a Pokémon know as a Beheeyem but I'm supposed to be human, like Gene."

"Another one?" Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Just how many of you are gonna show up?"

Gene and Juniper looked at each other and smiled.

"I can think of a few more." the Gallade answered. "And to answer that last question, I met Juniper when I spent a few years in Unova, she and a few others found out about me and Belle, they were the first ones who did who didn't turn me into the cops."

Juniper shrugged. "Belle explained the situation to us and we didn't see why we had to."

Belle smiled. When she and Gene had stayed in Unova, those had been some of the best years of their life together.

Celestia ushered her sister and student back to their seats. "As interesting as it would be to hear this story, we really need to get on with this meeting."

Gene shrugged and returned to his seat, Juniper taking the free one beside him.

"Now," Celestia began. "As you all are aware, as of yesterday, Pokémon, including some who used to be humans, appeared in Equestria." She looked around, and seeing no confusion, continued. "What we are here to do is figure out a way to either convince or force Arceus to undo his actions and return everything to normal." Most of the beings in the room nodded, the abstaining members consisted of Gene and Belle. "Does anyone have any ideas?" She asked suddenly, shocking most in attendance. "Because I know nothing about Arceus and could really use some information." She looked expectantly to the Pokémon around the table, most of whom developed a sudden interest in the ceiling.

They had all been confident about helping the Princess when they went into the meeting, but now that they were being asked for information that could possibly lead to someone acting against their god, it was an awkward position.

"Supposedly," Korrina finally answered. "Arceus is a Normal-type Pokémon. That would make him vulnerable to Fighting-type attacks but not much else."

Celestia nodded, and was about to ask about Fighting-Types, when Misty interrupted her. "But Arceus is supposed to have seventeen different plates, one representing each type, that allow him to change his type depending on which plate he's holding."

Celestia sighed. "And that means…?"

"Lord Arceus would be able to nullify or effectively weaken any move to the point where it would do little to no damage." Lucario explained.

Celestia mentally wrote off using any scornful Pokémon or former humans against Arceus. _It was a long shot anyway_. She assured herself.

"Alright," She said. "What else?" None of the Pokémon spoke, but this time the silence was born of ignorance.

"Uhh," Gene rubbed the back of his head. "Legend says he hatched from an egg in a place where there was nothing and created the universe." He quoted his Pokédex.

Celestia looked at them all in disbelief.

"Do none of you know anything about your own god?" She asked.

"Well, until recently no one was a hundred percent sure he existed." Misty explained sheepishly.

"He was imprisoned, I think, in another dimension." Juniper sighed. "But no one has any idea how he got there… well, actually I suppose the other legendaries might but it's not like they'll say anything."

Celestia shook her head. She knew this plan had been a long shot, but she had still hoped that some vital piece of information would come up, now all she knew was that Arceus _could_ be stopped, but no one knew how.

Celestia took a deep breath and decided to come back to that problem later. "Alright," She sighed. "If we can't figure out how to stop Arceus and undo all of this now, then we're going to have to deal with the other Pokémon, so please," She nodded to the assembled trainers, Pokémon, and professor. "Explain."

The Pokémon all looked at each other, with the majority looking to Juniper, after a moment the Cerebral Pokémon floated a few inches out of her chair and began. "Alright, where to begin… any specific questions?"

Twilight smiled giddily and teleported a note pad and paper from somewhere. She had jotted down copious notes from their excursion yesterday and she was excited to have an actual expert answer some of her questions. "I have a few," A list unrolled until it reached the floor, and Discord and the princesses chuckled. Most of Twilight's friends rolled their eyes and the Pokémon gaped. "First off," She began. "How many different kinds of Pokémon are there? I have a rough number thanks to something Arceus said but I wanna be sure."

Juniper smiled. She rarely met someone this enthusiastic about learning. "Counting all the legendaries? There are… seven hundred and twenty one species of Pokémon."

Twilight jotted the number down in her notes. "Next question; you've mentioned 'types' several times. Could you please explain this?"

Gene sighed. He knew they were in trouble now; Twilight was just as enthusiastic about learning about Pokémon as Juniper was about teaching about them. _"We're going to be here for a while."_ he told Belle.

* * *

Darkrai sat alone in his room, thinking about the events that had transpired in the past few days, specifically what had happened last night.

The night had gotten off to a great start, he had met Cresselia in the hall of paintings and the pair had spent their time looking over the paintings of the Sinnoh region, remembering the good times they had shared. As the night had drawn to a close Darkrai had 'walked' Cresselia to her room. Everything had seemed so picturesque, Cresselia looked so beautiful in the fire light and they were entirely alone, but before anything else had happened Darkrai sensed something in the dreamscape. Something that seemed scared, and angry.

Before Cresselia could say or do anything Darkrai had bade her good night and rushed to his room, leaving the extremely disappointed and slightly heart-broken Lunar Pokémon alone.

Darkrai hated himself for doing that to her. But he had a good reason. Darkrai was utterly terrified of the dreamscape, or, more precisely, his relationship with it. Back on Earth, Darkrai had entered the realm of dreams once, in Unova. Her face still haunted his nightmares.

"_She deserves better."_ Darkrai tried to assure himself. _"I would just end up hurting her."_ The Pitch-Black Pokémon was silent for a moment, then he sighed and floated out of his room, making sure Cresselia wasn't around, before floating towards the library. _"I suppose researching the dreamscape couldn't hurt."_ He said to himself. _"Perhaps I can find something about-"_

"_Relic Song!"_ Before the Dark-type could react a blaring fanfare accosted his ears, temporarily disorienting him and causing him to drop to the ground in pain.

When Darkrai finally regained his senses and looked up he was not surprised at who he saw before him. _"Well,"_ Meloetta said, tapping her foot. _"I'm waiting."_

"_What do you want, Meloetta?"_ Darkrai asked, floating over to her.

The Melody Pokémon, in her Pirouette Form, glared at him. _"You know exactly what I want, Darkrai,"_ Darkrai winced. She was definitely angry. Meloetta never acted like this and she almost never used Relic Song as anything other than entertainment. _"Tell me what you did to Cresselia."_

"_I didn't do anything,"_ He sneered. _"We had a lovely evening, then we said our goodbyes, nothing more, nothing less."_

Darkrai tried to escape the Normal-type but she flew in front of him. _"You really are an idiot, you know that?"_

Darkrai growled at her. _"Tread carefully Meloetta,"_ He said, dark energy collecting in his hands. _"Even in that form, you do not want to be hit with my Dark Pulse."_

Meloetta didn't even move. In fact, she acted as if Darkrai had made no threat at all. _"You asked Cresselia out and you didn't even kiss her goodnight."_

"_I will not stand here and be harassed by you."_ Darkrai attempted to turn into his shadow form to escape but Meloetta stopped him again.

"_If you even try that, I swear to Arceus, I will Perish Song you and leave you in Cresselia's room,"_ She smirked as Darkrai stopped cold. _"I'll even wrap you up like a little present, maybe an early Valentine's day gift, hmm?"_ Darkrai pulled himself out of the floor. _"Course she'll think it's from you but-"_

"_Alright!"_ Darkrai didn't need to hear anymore. _"You spent too much time around humans."_ Meloetta had always been a people's favorite when it came to legendaries, she'd even given a few concerts in modern time, although the Sacred Swordsmen had been on guard each time. Her interactions with humans meant that she was a lot more… devious when it came to her plans. The only one that beat her was Hoopa, but she was the Mischief Pokémon. _"What do you want from me?"_

_"I want to help you Darkrai."_ She said, her voice tinged with sadness.

_"No one can help me,"_ Darkrai turned away from her. _"Not even Arceus can help me."_ That part was actually true, because Cresselia and Darkrai had been created to represent stages of the moon, their abilities reflected this. Cresselia, the crescent moon, represented good dreams and peaceful sleep. Darkrai, the new moon, embodied darkness and nightmares. This was just how they had formed. Arceus hadn't wanted Drakrai to have his powers, and he had tried to remove them, to no avail.

Darkrai felt a hand on his shoulder and turned back. _"Just tell her how you feel Darkrai."_ Meloetta practically begged. _"She cares about you, she can help."_

The Dark-type remained silent, Cresselia had tried to help him before, her natural ability, which gave pleasant dream, only weakened his ability for a short while before the two balanced each other out. _"At the very least she could help you with the stress."_

Darkrai shook his head. _"I would just end up hurting her."_ He said. _"I, I don't deserve her. She'd be better off if she never even knew me."_

Darkrai was suddenly hit with a surprisingly powerful Wake-Up Slap. _"Don't even __**think**__ like that! Cresselia loves you, and if you would just admit your feelings to her then you wouldn't be feeling this way!_ Meloetta cried tears in her eyes. The Melody Pokemon couldn't deal with this anymore, she was one of the legendaries who represented peace, and her songs were meant to cheer people up, depression didn't suit her.

"_If you decide you actually wanna talk,"_ She said, dropping out of Pirouette Form. _"You know where to find me."_

Meloetta flew to her room, leaving Darkrai alone in the hall, she needed to cheer herself up, and she had something in her room that would do just that It was one of the many books Arceus had been moving to the temple's library. Meloetta floated into her room and passed a variety of musical instruments and equipment that would make a music academy jealous. Harps, cellos and trumpets sat alongside guitars, sound tables, and even a grand piano, odder instruments, accordions, xylophones, and one man band gear was also placed sporadically around the room and Meloetta once again thanked Arceus for moving her gear when he brought them all here.

Temporarily ignoring the instruments Meloetta settled on her bed and found where she had left off. _"The art of the Heartsong,"_ She re-read the title of the book. _"By Musical Interlude, caused when the emotions of one or more ponies, and in rarer cases Zebras, Griffins and other races, run high enough to affect the natural magic of an area the beings in the surrounding area find themselves unable to resist the pull and join in a song and dance related to the original pony's predicament."_ Meloetta smiled and kept reading. _"In other cases it can lead to a smaller group of creatures to come to a realization about each other, often related to friendship or love."_ Meloetta skipped ahead to the cause section. _"... The predicament must be very important to the being singing, although musically talented and powerful magic beings, (*See, powerful magical beings at front for list) can cause them at will."_

Meloetta re-read the entry. _"Musically talented or magically powerful huh?"_ She said with a grin. _"I know I count for at least one of those."_

Darkrai, still floating limply in the hall didn't know what the Melody Pokemon was doing, and he didn't care. _"They don't understand,"_ He sunk into the floor, shifting into shadow form, and launched off. _"Not even Yveltal or Giratina can understand."_ Darkrai shot through the hallways, faster than most of the other legendaries could have seen. _"Why can't I learn to control this?"_ Ever since his creation, Darkrai had been plagued by his ability. Whenever he was scared, stressed, or nervous, his powers kicked in, and he had been very nervous last night.

Unbeknownst to Meloetta or most of the others, Darkrai had planned to officially begin courting Cresselia the night before, or that's what Virizion had called it when he had asked her for advice, but once the... force from the dreamscape had interrupted he had lost his nerve.

"_What is wrong with me?"_ He asked as he shot out the mouth of the temple, Darkrai flew up the sides and rose from the roof, sitting on the edge and staring into the forest.

"_Maybe Meloetta is right,"_ He said. _"Maybe I should just tell her."_ The Dark-type wanted nothing more than to confess his feelings to her, and it was common knowledge that she wanted the same, so why did he have to hold himself back? _"I don't deserve her,"_ He shook his head. _"I just... GAHHH!"_ A void of darkness pulsed around him. _"Why is this so difficult?!"_ He shouted to the sky.

* * *

Shaymin's ears twitched. _"Zygarde?"_ She looked to her friend, who was currently removing the chaos from a section of woods. _"Did you hear something?"_

"_No."_ He answered simply.

Shaymin sighed as Zygarde continued forward, erasing the chaos magic that permeated the area. Again she released the pollen from the flowers on her back and forced the plants to reshape. _"Pretty sure that I-"_

"_Yah!"_ she heard Zygarde yelp and raced forward, she was surprised to find Zygarde wrapped in what looked like a possessed Frenzy Plant attack. His thick scales prevented them from digging into his skin and his tail was wrapped around a tree to hold him in place. Once he saw the Grass-type he blushed slightly. _"A little help?"_ He asked, electing a giggle from her.

"_Fine."_ Again she released her pollen and the vines immediately stopped squirming. _"Let go."_ Shaymin commanded, the Plunder Vines released Zygarde and coiled loosely around the clearing.

"_Thanksss,"_ He looked at the Plunder Vines, squinted, the shot off in the direction they had come.

"_Wait up!"_ Shaymin had no chance of keeping up with the snake due to her stubby legs. _"Why aren't there any Gracidea flowers here?"_ She asked, panting. When she finally found Zygarde he was uprooting some form of fly trap from which the Plunder Vines came. The plant itself was very calm as the Order Pokémon ripped it to shreds. Shaymin rolled her eyes and walked slowly up to the gruesome scene, she stopped when one of the plants seeds landed in front of her.

She smiled and was going to pick it up, when she smelled something coming from the seed, she leaned in to get a better whiff, then jumped backwards as the scent of chaos entered her nostrils. _"Just like those odd blue plants from earlier,"_ She commented remembering the patch of blue flowers they had encountered and subsequently destroyed.

As Shaymin watched her friend obliterate the passive plant she was unaware that something was creeping up behind her, only once it was several feet behind her did she sense its presence, once she did she jumped and spun around to face... a Blitzle? No, this creature was slightly taller than a Blitzle, but not as tall as a Zebstrika, plus, it wore a fair amount of jewelry and looked decidedly more... feminine. Shaymin could sense no ill intent from the creature, so she decided to greet her, figuring she was probably one of the ponies Arceus had mentioned.

"_Greetings,"_ She said with a smile. _"I am Lady Shaymin and that,"_ She gestured to Zygarde, who had finished destroying the Plunder Plant and was sapping the chaos from the area. _"Is Lord Zygarde. Are you a pony?"_

For a moment the creature didn't speak, then she cleared her throat and, in an accent Shaymin didn't recognize, introduced herself. "My name is Zecora and zebra is my kind, now could you please tell me what I did just find?"

Shaymin smiled. _"Zygarde's been purifying this forest. It's completely polluted with chaos magic."_

Zecora shook her head. "In your friend's quest to change the Everfree, did you stop to consider what the effect might be?"

Zecora has been searching for the cause of the Everfree's trouble since yesterday, when an odd being had come to her home seeking shelter, after her initial shock Zecora had allowed the being entry, then after her recount of how vicious some of the creatures had become, Zecora had gone to find the cause, and hopefully stop it. "In upsetting the balance of magic in the land, you might end up forcing the chaos god's hand."

Zygarde abruptly stopped his process and turned to Zecora, he cocked his head a slithered over to the mare, bending down to look her in the eyes he said. _"Misss Zecora, I asssure you that any attemptsss to return thisss foressst to chaosss will be ssstopped by me."_ He smirked. _"And bessidesss, I do not believe thisss ssso called god isss all he'sss cracked up to be."_

Zecora sighed. "Discord is chaos, embodied and true, if he attacks full power it would be the end of you."

Zygarde chuckled and rose to his full height. _"Well perhapsss my full title will disssuade his attacksss,"_ He smiled down at the little mare. _"I am Zygarde, lord of order and harmony."_ In truth he added the harmony part onto the end because he was pretty sure they were the same and he wanted to impress Zecora. _"Now tell me Misss Zecora,"_ He bent down to her height again. _"Which one alwaysss comesss out on top?"_

* * *

Arceus sat in his pocket dimension, looking over the strings of fate. Problem was there were too many possible outcomes because of the amount of criteria he had to take in. _"Let's see… avoid pissing off Celestia so much that she tries to drop the sun on Equestria due to mental instability, more of an inconvenience, considering I'd have to destroy her."_ Arceus was mainly working to make sure that the worst possible outcomes didn't come about. _"Problematic humans... oh sweet eternity, he's here? I need to talk to Reshiram and Zekrom about this one."_ Arceus slightly regretted taking memories from all the legendaries when collecting the humans, although this specific human wasn't Arceus' least favorite. _"A lot of Gym Leaders and almost eighty percent of the Elite Fours and Champions, the birds' saviors… hmm, all the regional professors? I thought for sure at least one of them wouldn't make it."_

"_You know,"_ A familiar voice came from behind the god. _"You spend an awful lot of time in here for someone who just spent an awful lot of time in here."_

Arceus dropped the lines in his grasp and they disappeared, leaving himself and Mew with nothing in the pocket dimension. _"Sorry, sweetie,"_ The god said. _"With what happened in the dreamscape last night, I thought it might be a good idea to check what the future might hold."_

"_Can't you just send Dialga or Celebi to check?"_ Mew asked. Her brother and niece were experts in time travel. Mew was actually surprised neither of them had known about Arceus' plan.

Arceus shook his head. _"The time stream is completely out of whack at the moment, a fact that has not gone unnoticed,"_ Arceus though for a moment, then looked back to his daughter. _"Neither of them would be able to jump more than a week into the past or a few days into the future, and only for a few hours."_

Arceus knew that once the events involving the Princesses calmed down the future would open up and become clearer, but he feared the Pokémon's very existence in the world had cut the time lines to the past, this was supported by the fact that none of the ponies he had met so far, including the immortals, had even heard of his kind.

This only caused a problem for a few beings who could actually _use_ time travel, but still. Arceus looked over a particularly disturbing future and frowned. With every possible outcome it was nearly impossible to tell which ones were serious. _"You know what, Mew?"_ He asked rhetorically. _"You're right, I have been spending way too much time in here."_ An instant later the pair found themselves back in the Hall of Legends. _"I think it's about time I go and chat with everyone,"_ The god trotted down one of the hallways and called back. _"If any of the locals show up, come and find me."_

Mew sighed and put both her paws to her face, shaking her head. She loved her father, she really did, but he could be so absentminded. The middle of an interspecies issue and went to talk with old friends, plus Darkrai was still on the roof and Cresselia was locked in her room, not to mention Groudon and Kyogre were duking it out in the arena and Rayquaza was becoming impatient about not being in the air. And Suicune still hadn't returned, although considering the Aurora Pokémon's free spirited attitude that wasn't surprising. _"What else could possibly go wro-?"_ Mew stopped herself before she finished, having a god for a father had taught her not to taunt the universe.

* * *

"-But only if the attacks are used together." Professor Juniper finished.

"Fascinating." Twilight said, jotting down yet another piece of information, she was about to ask another question when she realized she hadn't given anypony else a chance. "Does anypony have any questions they'd like answered?"

She looked around the table and was surprised when Rarity spoke up. "Actually I have some, for Gene and Belle."

Everyone who wasn't asleep turned to the pair and saw that Gene was fast asleep and snoozing on Belle's shoulder, the Gardevoir had a small smile across her face but once she registered what was happening she sighed and nudged her mate awake.

"What's that?" Gene asked groggily, jolting awake and, due to his position, slicing an arm blade through the arm of his chair. "Sorry," He said blushing, electing laughs from several members of the audience. "What'd I miss?"

"I have a few questions about those memories you showed me earlier, dear."

"Wait, what?" Twilight asked. "You can share memories?"

Belle smiled. "Psychic-types can do a large variety of things, sharing memories with others is a simple way of telling stories." Sharing memories also had much deeper meanings, but that part came into play between mated pairs, again she couldn't wait to begin teaching Gene how to use his new powers.

While Twilight recorded this information in her notes Rarity asked her first questions. "Well for starters, why did you look so different?" She asked Belle. "It looked like you were a completely different pony – err… Pokémon back then."

"Yeah," Gene said as if it was obvious. "She was a Ralts."

Everyone was silent for a moment then Applejack spoke up. "Look, Ah kinda wanna avoid another session where we try and figure out what the other is askin' so why don't ya just explain, as clearly as ya can, what ya just said."

Belle and Gene looked to each other and shared a few thoughts before Gene looked back at everyone else.

"Belle evolved." Gene said with a shrug. "I don't know what more I can say."

Twilight nearly dropped her notepad.

"That's not possible," she gasped. "Evolution takes hundreds, if not thousands of years. It was first documented by Charles Darwhinny back in-"

"Twi," Applejack interrupted. "Now's not the time fer a history lesson, sugarcube."

"Oh, uh, right, carry on." Twilight blushed.

Gene and Belle were now both very confused. "Ok, let's see... Juniper?"

The Pokémon professor sighed. "Evolution occurs when a Pokémon gains enough energy to trigger a transformation in its DNA, this can occur naturally over time, when a Pokémon becomes physically stronger, or through various external stimuli,"

Celestia listened intently to the Professor's speech, and was once again assured that sending Bio Chem out of the room was the right choice. Twilight was inquisitive enough, but Bio Chem was... unpredictable, especially when it came to genetics. She made a mental note to retrieve the Trubbish from his lab after the meeting.

"Furthermore," Juniper continued. "A Pokémon can only evolve two times in an evolutionary chain, equaling three total forms."

"Exactly," Gene said. "Thanks, Juniper."

"No problem." Juniper settled back in her seat and Gene took over.

"So like Juniper said, a Pokémon can evolve twice, what you saw, Rarity, was the first form of a Gardevoir's evolution. When I first met Belle she was just a cute little Ralts," Belle blushed softly. "After a while she evolved into a beautiful young Kirlia." Her blush grew deeper. "And finally she became the stunningly gorgeous Gardevoir who sits next to me today." Belle was as red as a tomato as Gene finished. "And one more thing, some Pokémon _can_ evolve a third time, it's called a mega evolution but it's only temporary."

"Oh, what Pokémon can Mega evolve?" Twilight asked giddily.

Gene smiled "I'd say about… half of the Pokémon in this room. Lucario, Houndoom, and Gardevoir all have Mega forms."

Twilight nodded and wrote the information down. "Can we see?"

Korrina shook her head. "Sorry Princess, you need a special stone to Mega Evolve a Pokémon, and I lost Lucario's when I came here."

"Same for Belle's." Gene added, when Korrina looked at him in confusion he just replied. "I didn't go to Kalos just to get gym badges."

Twilight's ears dropped. "Oh alright, Rarity, you said you had more questions?"

The fashionista nodded. "Indeed, although really just one more." She again looked to Gene and Belle. "What on Equestria is a Pokéball?"

"Yes!" Luna exclaimed, startling everyone, including the Swablu on her horn, which once again darted into Luna's mane. "Arceus mentioned those yesterday, but was interrupted before he was able to explain."

This time Misty answered. "A Pokéball is a device that allows a trainer to capture Pokémon," Fluttershy developed a worried look on her face. "It's some kind of capsule system and-"

"Um, excuse me?" Fluttershy spoke up. "But what do you mean capture? Does it hurt them?"

"No" Misty assured her. "It doesn't hurt and it just... captures them, I don't know how to explain it."

Belle smiled. "I can show you," She looked to the princesses. "If your highnesses would allow it."

Luna and Celestia looked at each other, then the elder sister nodded. "Alright."

"But if anything feels out of the ordinary," Luna warned. "We will not hesitate to strike."

Belle nodded and, while no one noticed Gene tightened his grip on the arm of his chair, the one he hadn't sliced through. _No one threatens Belle_. A voice in the back of his head whispered.

Before he could do anything Belle's voice spoke in his mind. _"Who do you think we should show them? Fang, Draco, Webber?"_

Thinking over his team of Pokémon for a moment, Gene decided. _"Go with Draco."_

Belle nodded and she activated her powers, feeding the memories of the battle into the minds of every being in the room.

* * *

"Alright, Belle use Magical Leaf!"

"Kirlia!" Belle shot the attack towards her opponent, hitting him full on.

"Viii..." The Vibrava buzzed as it righted itself in the air, then launched its own attack. "Supersonic!"

The sound waves shot towards Belle at an alarmingly fast rate, Gene had just enough time to call out his next command. "Use Teleport!"

Belle disappeared in a flash of light and the Supersonic struck the ground, confusing the Vibration Pokémon, until Belle reappeared behind him and Gene called out. "Now, use Shadow Ball!"

"Kirliii-a!" The Ghost-type move hit Vibrava head on, knocking it to the ground.

"_Now!"_ Belle told her trainer, using her limited telepathic powers.

"Right," Gene reached into his bag and pulled out a red and white sphere, he tapped the button on the center and it expanded from ping-pong sized to baseball sized. "Go, Pokéball!"

He threw the ball towards the Ground/Dragon-type and as it hit the Pokémon was transformed into red light and sucked into the ball. It wriggled once, twice, three times, then after a fourth it dinged.

"Yes!" Gene cried throwing his arms in the air. "We did it." Belle blushed softly. Not many trainers gave their Pokémon as much credit as Gene did. Gene walked over to the Pokéball and picked it up, smiling, and threw it into the air. "Come on out!"

Vibrava blinked his eyes as he landed on the ground. "Vibrava?" He looked at his new trainer quizzically.

"Hi," Gene said with a wave. "I'm Gene, this is Belle,"

"Hello." The Psychic-type greeted the new addition happily.

"And welcome to the team." Gene rubbed his Pokémon's head, causing the Ground-type to smile softly, Pokémon could tell what kind of trainer a human was and, there were definitely worse alternatives to being caught by someone like Gene. "Now before I introduce you to everyone else," Gene continued. "I like to give all my Pokémon names," He smiled, he had had this one planned for a while. "What do you think of Draco?"

* * *

Everyone gasped as the memories stopped, and Gene started to explain. "That's basically how a Pokéball works, you have to weaken-AHH!"

Gene was suddenly knocked out of his chair and tackled to the floor by a surprisingly fast moving yellow projectile. "How. Dare. You." Fluttershy looked Gene right in the eyes. "How dare you take poor little creatures out of their homes and force them to battle! How dare you-EEP!"

Fluttershy suddenly found herself hanging upside down in the air, facing a perturbed looking Belle. "I hate having to repeat myself," She said calmly. "Do NOT harm my mate or I will shred your mind. And I don't want to hurt you Miss Fluttershy." Fluttershy was shocked silent. "Understand?" Belle asked through gritted teeth.

"U-uh huh." Fluttershy nodded nervously.

"Good." Belle placed Fluttershy back in her seat and pulled Gene upright, the Gallade shot a disapproving glare at his mate but it disappeared as she pecked him on the cheek.

"Now then," Gene said as he sat back down. "What the heck?"

"I think Flutters is just a teensy bit mad about what you did to the little buggy thing." Pinkie explained.

"Ok, a.) It's a Vibrava and his name is Draco. And b.) Draco was actually glad I caught him after a while, he told me it was pretty boring in the Hoenn Desert." Gene explained.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Fluttershy on this one darling," Rarity interrupted. "If you are forcibly capturing those poor creatures and forcing them to battle, well it just doesn't seem right!" Most of the others mumbled in agreement.

"Sweet Arceus," Korrina groaned. "You guys sound like those idiots from Unova a few years back." The angry/confused looks Korrina received shut her up.

"Look, I can kinda see where you guys are coming from," Gene consented. "I personally prefer having my team out of their Pokéballs, walking alongside me. But Belle joined me willingly and I kinda rescued Fang, plus have you seen these guys?" He gestured to the Houndoom sleeping between his and Belle's chair. "Do you really think I could keep _him_ under control if he wanted to leave?"

A few seconds passed before someone spoke up. "So if I understand what you're saying correctly," Twilight began. "Then it's ultimately up to the Pokémon to decide whether or not they stay with their… Trainer, and battle?"

Gene nodded. "More or less."

"Still don't seem entirely right to me." Applejack grumbled.

"Which part exactly?" Belle inquired. "The capture? The battling? The idea of a Pokéball?"

"All of it really." The Earth pony answered after a moment. "Doesn't seem natural, what them humans did." Whether Applejack forgot that four of the beings in the room used to be humans, or whether she directly ignored it was unclear.

"Well," Belle began. "Pokémon actually battle with each other naturally so they can become stronger and evolve. As for the Pokéballs, I've never spent much time in one myself but from what I've heard they're not that bad, sort of like taking a nap. And the capturing... while some Pokémon, and humans actually, don't agree with it, it isn't actually that much of a problem. If the Pokémon wants out they can always break out of their Pokéball and run away. Others learn to trust, respect and love their Trainer over time, and for others…" She smiled and placed a hand on her mate's arm. "For others, it's the best thing that ever happened to them."

"Aww." Three voices cried at once, the first, not surprisingly was Rarity, the second, Princess Luna, and the third, almost shockingly, was Discord, whom everyone thought was asleep.

"What?" The Draconequus asked. "Just because I'm the spirit of disharmony I can't have a heart?" To prove his point he reached into his chest and pulled out a heart, making everyone gasp before they realized it was a Hearts and Hooves day chocolate box, the chocolates actually were shaped like hearts.

"Oook," Gene said, slightly mortified. "I'm gonna ignore that. Anyone else wanna say anything?"

Fluttershy sighed. "I still don't like the idea but, I guess if it really is their choice,"

"And you haven't brought any of these orbs with you." Luna added.

"I guess it's kinda alright, maybe." The former humans let out a sigh of relief, although Fluttershy was still largley doubtful of the idea in her mind.

"Well," Celestia said. "I suppose that's more than enough for one day." She eyed Twilight's extensive notes, and thought back to the fact that she had almost tackled Gene herself before Fluttershy took the initiative. "Luna, Twilight… and Discord, meet me in my chambers in an hour,"

"Oh, Tia," Discord swooned falsely. "I had no idea you were into that kinda thing."

While most of the ponies, and Pokémon, looked horrified, Celestia just rolled her eyes and continued. "I have something I need to take care of, but after that we have to discuss some more…" She looked glanced around the room at the amassed beings. "…Delicate matters in private; the rest of you feel free to do as you please, when you are ready just talk to my guards and they will escort you to your rooms, which I've already set aside for all of you. Any questions?"

No one spoke up.

"In that case," Celestia got up from the table. "I have to see a cat about a god."


	12. Chapter 10

Princess Celestia walked through the hallways of Canterlot Castle, normally Celestia tried to maintain an air of serenity while she walked. This time, however, her shoulders were slightly hunched, her face was marred with a scowl, and her ears twitched in either anger of nervousness, probably both.

As the perturbed Alicorn arrived in the dignitary wing of the palace she realized just how little she had planned for this confrontation. "Perhaps I should have asked about this being when the professor was around." She remembered how Keldeo had said that the little legendary… Mew, was more powerful than he was. "Hmm, Mew, Mewtwo... perhaps he's her son?"

Thinking about that just unnerved her even more. "And what type is he?" Celestia sighed as she knocked on the door, regretting that she had not thought of these questions sooner. As soon as Celestia's hoof connected with the door it swung open, revealing that the room was dark save for a few candles flickering around the room. And on the bed, or rather several inches above the bed, Mewtwo sat, or rather floated. Legs crossed and arms folded, as if he were meditating.

Celestia paused a moment before entering. "Greetings… Lord Mewtwo, I'm not interrupting am I?"

The legendaries eyes snapped open and he studied the princess for a second, as if only just noticing her. _"No."_ He answered, uncrossing his legs and rising to his full height. At almost seven feet tall the Psychic-type would have been just shorter than the Princess, excluding her horn, if he had been standing on the ground. But floating almost two feet off the ground Mewtwo forced Celestia to look up at him, a situation normally reserved for Discord, and a few Minotaurs she had encountered.

Celestia shifted awkwardly, trying to figure out what to say. "I have a few questions," She began. "That I would like you to answer."

"_Then ask."_ He replied rather curtly.

Celestia ignored his tone. "Could you please… tell me a little bit about yourself?" Mewtwo looked genuinely confused at her request and the princess smirked inwardly.

"_I – why do you wish to know this?"_ he asked, as if unwilling to share information about himself.

"All good relationships are built on trust," She explained. "And if you and your kind are here to stay, then we need to begin trusting each other." Celestia was beginning to entertain the idea that she might be unable to bring about the removal of the Pokémon.

Mewtwo knew the princess' logic was sound, he just wasn't use to sharing information about himself. _"I..."_

Celestia could tell the legendary was uncertain, so she decided to take the initiative. "I'll start, my name is Princess Celestia, I'm over a thousand years old and I've been ruling Equestria for most of that, by myself for a good portion, when I was younger I bore the Elements of Harmony alongside my sister Luna, the two of us took control of Equestria after we defeated Discord, the now reformed lord of chaos."

Mewtwo thought for a moment, he didn't want to ruin the chances of peace. _"My name, is Mewtwo, I am the single most powerful Psychic-type Pokémon in existence, although even two of the Lake Guardians could best me. I was… born… only a few decades ago."_

Celestia raised an eyebrow. Mewtwo seemed confused about a few things, specifically retaining to his age. She decided to figure this out in a somewhat roundabout manner. "I can't help but notice that your name, and appearance, share resemblance to another Pokémon I met yesterday, Mew; are you two related?"

Mewtwo clenched one of his hands into a fist. _"In a manner of speaking, yes Mew and I are related."_

Celestia could practically feel the anger coming from the Genetic Pokémon, she decided to change the subject. "So," She began. "What do you think of Equestria so far?"

"_It is… pleasant, and peaceful, and serene. I can appreciate these things."_ Mewtwo was mostly thankful for the fact that it was lacking in humanity. The Psychic-type didn't hate all humans, just the ones who saw him as a savage beast, which was to say most.

Celestia nodded. "And what do you think of Arceus bringing your kind here?" Celestia honestly didn't want to provoke the legendary, she just wanted to see what kind of... creature he was.

"_I support Lord Arceus' decision, I am merely glad that our subjects will no longer be at the mercy of the humans."_

"Were the humans really that bad?" Celestia asked, she had wanted to ask more about the human world at the last meeting but after everything that happened she figured that everyone could use a break.

"_Humans,"_ Mewtwo began. _"Are an interesting race, most Pokémon are more aligned to good or to some form of evil, with some in between, but the humans, they are more grey."_ He shook his head as old memories came to mind. _"They are capable of great goodness, and great evil."_

"And I assume that the humans, or former humans, I should say, are the ones who are more 'good' in your opinion." Celestia asked. In all honesty, Arceus' assumption that he could just pick and choose people to move to Equestria made her angrier than the actual move.

Mewtwo picked up on Celestia's anger, and he frowned. _"Yes, he used the memories of the entire council to create a sort of... itinerary for whom he chose."_

Celestia shook her head. "How can you justify this? You just pick and choose beings to rip from their lives, what happened to the ones left behind?! What about families and friends you have separated!?" Celestia suddenly found herself releasing her pent up aggression onto the Genetic Pokémon, unable to hold it in with this new information.

Mewtwo glared at the Alicorn. _"Princess-"_

"And if your world is as dependent on Pokémon as I have been lead to believe how will those left behind maintain a functional society!? Do you even care what happens to them!? Do you-?"

"_NO!"_ Mewtwo shouted, launching forward and forcing the Princess back as he hovered over her. _"I don't care. I have experienced the cruelty of humans first hand, and I will not feel sympathy for the likes of them!"_ A psychic pulse traveled outward from the legendary, throwing the bedding, a dresser, and several vases and pictures against the wall. Glass broke, wood splintered, and a large crack traveled up the wall.

Celestia took a few more steps back and lite up her horn. "Stop this at once!" She shouted. "Or I will make you!"

Mewtwo, no longer using his psychic powers, turned to the princess. _"Do not threaten me Princess, I am not a being to be trifled with."_

"I have faced worse than the likes of you." Celestia said, certain she was correct.

"_No, you haven't."_

The princess was shocked, the certainty in his words scared her.

"_I am one of the strongest Pokémon on the planet, only Lord Arceus and his children outrank me in sheer power."_

Celestia almost backed away again, but before fear got ahold of her once more, she steeled her nerves, ceased channeling her magic, and stepped forward. "I don't care how powerful you, or the other legendaries, are. Transplanting the majority of a planets population could lead to dire consequences." She continued to walk forward until she was face to muzzle with Mewtwo.

"_And leaving the Pokémon in the position they were in could have led to the same."_ Mewtwo countered.

"How?" Celestia asked. "From what I have been told, a good majority the humans were good-hearted."

"_Yes,"_ Mewtwo conceded. _"One of them even stopped the fight I had with my… mother when we first met."_ Calling Mew his mother was still difficult, even if she technically was. _"But as well you know, the minority can cause the most problems,"_ He gritted his teeth. _"I know this personally."_

Celestia had to admit, he was right. Sombra, Discord, Chrysalis, and Nightmare Moon were but four beings but had caused more trouble than any others. "But why did the authorities, or the legendaries themselves, not remove the problematic humans?"

Names and images flashed through Mewtwo's mind. _Ghetsis, Cyrus, Lysandre... Giovanni._

"_The humans who cause the most trouble are __**extremely**__ difficult to remove."_ He explained carefully. _"They have legions of followers, all devoted to a singular cause. And teams of powerful Pokémon, ones that they have enslaved to their will."_ He shook his head. _"They often pay off the authorities to keep their organizations running and only a few ever dare to oppose them."_

Celestia was shocked. "The authorities? Enslavement?!" She had assumed that the human world had had problems, but if what Mewtwo said was true... "But what about you?" She asked. "Aren't you powerful enough to stop them?"

Mewtwo didn't speak. He didn't want to reveal to the princess that the legendaries were often the ones at the mercy of the groups. Including himself.

"_We've tried."_

Celestia could tell the Genetic Pokémon was hiding something. "What happened?"

Mewtwo had been training for years to control his temper. Mew and Virizion had helped him, but at times, when he was threatened or angered, he lost control. His past was one of his triggers.

"_If you want to know Princess,"_ He held one hand towards the Alicorn. _"Then let me show you."_

Celestia suddenly felt a powerful mental force assault her mind, she had set up mental wards to stop being such as Discord and Chrysalis from controlling, or entering, her mind. Even in the dreamscape only her sister could view her dreams. And under Mewtwo's mental attack, those wards cracked like an egg underhoof.

* * *

Mewtwo awoke suddenly. _"Wh-where am I?"_ He found himself surrounded in by water in some kind of tube, beyond the glass he could see a pair of beings arguing, and another lying on the ground, and two more behind the taller one holding some form of devices in their hands.

The shorter being, an elderly man with thinning hair wearing a lab coat, attempted to rush past the other, a man in an orange suit with dark brown hair. He was stopped when the orange suited man slapped him hard and sent him skidding across the floor where he landed next to another machine.

Mewtwo had no idea what to make of the situation, nor did he have time think about it. He felt a pressure building in his head and before he even knew what it was, it shot outward, shattering the glass and disconnecting Mewtwo from the tubes in his back.

All the men in the room turned to the broken tube in shock, but the one lying on the floor, a woman, didn't move. Mewtwo noted the red liquid pooling around her.

Some form of projectile shot past Mewtwo's head. He looked and saw that it had been fired from one of the men's devices. The man in orange slapped the device from the man's hand. "Don't shoot it, you fools!" He grabbed the other gun from the second man. "Do you know how much money we've put into this project?!"

Before Mewtwo could make another thought, he felt another bout of pressure building in his mind, this one much bigger than the last. Mewtwo grasped his head. _"GAAHHH!"_

The three men took a few steps back. "B-boss?" one of them stammered. "M-maybe we should consider abandoning this project?"

The man turned back to his lackeys and snarled. "I will not be beaten by a Pokémon!" He shouted. "Especially one I _own_."

At that point Mewtwo's mental pressure broke. And the mental blast traveled outward. The three men in front of him flew backwards, the man in orange landed on his knees in the middle of the floor but the two 'lackeys' hit the wall behind them and crumpled to the ground.

The elder man looked on in horror, he reached for a button on the control panel, one for recording notes on the project. "Entry... entry 327. We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon… and we succeeded." The man, known as Dr. Fuji, slumped to the ground as the mental assault, combined with old age, injury, and fear stopped his heart.

"Let's get out of here!" One of the two lackeys cried, together they rushed out the door, leaving their former boss alone with Mewtwo.

"Incredible." He muttered to himself.

As Mewtwo's psychic spike ceased, he fell to the ground, unable to support himself psychically or physically. The man in orange rose from the ground and over to the Pokémon. "Hello, Mewtwo." He greeted the Pokémon.

"_Is-is that my name?"_ He asked, confused about everything.

The man sneered. _Apparently that worthless doctor didn't complete the mind_. He switched back to his smile, one that any knowledgeable human, Pokémon, pony, and basically every other sapient creature would recognize as a fake. Mewtwo had no prior life experience. "Yes, you're Mewtwo, and I want to help you."

"_Help me?"_

"Yes, help you control your powers, and help you learn." He held out his hand to the Psychic-type, but Mewtwo glanced to the deceased elderly man.

"_Who is he?"_

The man smirked. "He's no one – I mean, he's a man who was trying to hurt you."

"_Hurt me?"_ Mewtwo asked. _"Why?"_

"Because he didn't accept you Mewtwo, he thought you were dangerous. But you're not dangerous, are you?"

"_I don't know,"_ Mewtwo answered truthfully. _"Am I?"_

"No, Mewtwo," The man answered, still smiling his Krookodile smile. "You're just misunderstood." He looked down at the Pokémon. "But I understand you," His smile became even more insincere. "I'm your friend."

Mewtwo looked up at the man and after a moment took his hand, the man pulled him to his feet and used his own body to support Mewtwo as they walked towards the door.

"_What is your name?"_ Mewtwo asked.

The man smirked. "My name," He answered. "Is Giovanni."

* * *

It was a few months later, and Mewtwo was sitting in a room by himself staring at a television, as for its purpose he had yet to be told, but he was certain that Giovanni would tell him when he returned. Even though he had been in the building he was told was 'home' for a few months now, he had only seen Giovanni a few times, and only for a short while. A woman, whom called herself Teacher, came to Mewtwo over those months and had helped him learn, she had even given him a dictionary, the only gift he had ever received. And every day Mewtwo went to a form of arena that doubled as an exercise area, a man called Blake then helped him test his powers. Blake was nice, but acted much different around others than he did around Mewtwo when alone.

Soon, Giovanni entered the room, holding a disk he recognized as a DVD.

"Greetings Mewtwo," he said with a smile. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

"_Why haven't you visited me?"_ Mewtwo asked, a sort of anger slowly growing inside him.

Giovanni hid his frown. "I've been… busy." He walked over to the TV and popped the DVD in, but didn't turn on the player. "How have you been?"

"_I have been… well."_ the Psychic-type answered.

Giovanni nodded. "Good, good," He pulled up a chair and sat facing Mewtwo. He looked over the paper on a clipboard atop the TV. "It says here that you have excelled in all areas," He smiled. "Congratulations, my friend! We can finally start fulfilling our long-awaited dream."

_"That is what I wish to question."_ Mewtwo spoke, no longer feeling a scrap of excitement. Instead, he felt frustrated that he was being treated like a toy, rather than the equal being Giovanni claimed him to be.

"Oh?" Giovanni leant forward in his chair, scratching his chin as he awaited Mewtwo to continue.

"_All this time you have spoken of a 'goal' and you have yet to tell me what it is."_

Giovanni sighed. "I can understand your frustration, Mewtwo, but understand, I did not want to show you until I was sure you were ready."

"_Ready for what?"_ He asked.

Giovanni got up and walked over to the TV. "Ready for this." He turned on the DVD player and the TV flickered to life. For a moment the screen was black, then the images began. Within the video, a human man was savagely beating an Arcanine with a stick. Mewtwo shivered upon seeing the brutal abuse, twitching each time the man brought his stick down upon the cowering Pokémon.

_"Why are you showing me this?"_ He asked, but Giovanni gave no reply. Another video came up, sharing the monitor space with the previous video. In this one, a Charizard held a human woman by her throat, and was slamming her mercilessly against a wall.

"_What is the meaning of this?!"_ Another came up, the heart wreching image of a human, an exorcist, slowy ripping the gems from a Misdreavus' necklace, the Ghost Pokemon cried in pain and faded as its life source was taken from it. Soon another video popped up, the ghastly sight of a Hydreigon chewing off a man's skull. More and more came up, completely covering the monitor with the suffering of countless humans and Pokémon.

"_Stop this at once!"_ A mental pulse went outward and shut the TV down. For a second, Mewtwo worried Giovanni would be angry. But when he looked to the man, he saw there was sadness in his eyes. It was fake, put there so Mewtwo would feel more comfortable. Unfortunately, it worked.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Mewtwo. As you saw this world is filled with cruelty and evil, humans and Pokémon savagely beat each other and cause endless amounts of suffering." He walked over to the Pokémon and placed a hand on his shoulder. "My dream is to eradicate this suffering, but I cannot do it alone." He walked around Mewtwo and looked him in the eyes. "Will you help me?"

For a moment Mewtwo was silent, then he spoke up.

"_Where do we start?"_

* * *

Mewtwo sat in his 'room' at the Viridian Gym, he had been here for a few months now and he still didn't understand what battling these 'Trainers' had to do with the eradication of suffering, but he dared not question Giovanni; if he did he would be shown more of those images. To make matters worse, Mewtwo now wore a form of exo-suit attached to his spine that limited his powers, he had been told that this was to keep him from hurting himself, but in truth, it was so Giovanni could parade him around and not worry about getting hurt.

"_Challenger 109, report to the arena."_

Mewtwo rose from his spot and walked out the door that led to the arena, whenever one of the challengers came, he was to report to the area and defeat them. These battles caused him the most doubt in Giovanni's plan, some of the Trainers seemed to only care about winning the battle, which none ever did, others cared for the well-being of their Pokémon to a level that made Mewtwo reconsider the plan entirely.

A girl who had battled him only last week had been so distraught when he had defeated her Zoroark she had ran onto the field to make sure he was ok. She had ran out of the gym carrying him, tears in her eyes.

This trainer didn't seem to fit into that category. The young boy had spiky brown hair and wore a bright blue shirt. "So you're the big, scary Pokémon everyone's talking about, huh?" From the boy's attitude, Mewtwo could tell the boy was definitely haughty, and he appeared to be a bully, but did that really make him a bad person?

Further in the background, Mewtwo could see a group of young woman, all dressed in red and white, short skirted outfits, they had what Mewtwo assumed were 'pom-poms', from the look of them Mewtwo assumed they were cheerleaders. But why were they all here for this one boy? Did this human control a harem?

"You've made quite a name for yourself, you know?" Mewtwo remained silent. "The silent type huh? Doesn't matter, 'cause I'll be the one to bring you down! Go, Nidoking!" With an enthusiastic cry he tossed a Pokémon prison... a Pokéball, into the air. A large purple Nidoking burst out and roared savagely at his opponent.

Mewtwo had encountered many of these before, several stronger than this specimen. This battle would be trivial.

"I advise you send out all your Pokémon." Giovanni's voice crackled from the speakers on either side of the balcony where he sat. While the other Trainers stood behind their Pokémon and offered some form of support Giovanni knew Mewtwo could handle any challenge.

The challenger smirked. "To be honest, I only brought one other Pokémon. Go, Arcanine!"

Mewtwo already knew this other Pokémon as well. It seemed to be a popular species for boys, apparently on the basis that 'it looked cool'. Were humans really that concerned with physical appearance? Did they not consider things such as personality? Traits? Behaviours? To Mewtwo, humans appeared to be pretty shallow creatures.

The referee walked up to his designated pedestal. "Let the battle commence." He walked on, not even stopping to watch the battle.

Before the Trainer could call out an order, Mewtwo raised an arm towards the Pokémon and activated his powers. His eyes glowed blue and the Arcanine and Nidoking lifted off the ground, encased in a blue outline, and were thrown into the opposite wall, leaving two large dents.

"H-how?" The Trainer held up his Pokédex.

"_No data available."_ The device answered.

"What the hell are you?" The Trainer asked as he recalled his Pokémon.

When no answer came, the challenger stomped out of the gym, like so many before him, and his cheer squad solemnly followed.

* * *

It was only a few days later, and Mewtwo was wandering the Gym as he had taken to doing. Giovanni allowed it, as long as he did not go in a few specific rooms, one of which Mewtwo was standing outside of.

"_What could be in there?"_ he wondered aloud. Giovanni seemed to spend a lot of time in this room, and Mewtwo often wondered what lied behind it. And tonight, he planned to find out.

Tonight was one of the first times Giovanni hadn't been in the Gym. Mewtwo had no idea where he was, but all that mattered was finding out what was behind the door. The inhibitor on his back prevented him from using most of his powers but he could probably manage to pry the barrier open, a fact cemented when the locks on the door clicked open.

Mewtwo smiled as he walked into the room, which appeared to be some form of lab. He walked over to the control panel and began searching the computer for any important data. He found plenty.

"_Entry 001,"_ An elderly voice crackled over the computer. _"After obtaining genetic material from the legendary Pokémon, Mew, we have begun testing it to see if it would possible to recreate the DNA."_

Mewtwo was confused. Who was Mew? What did any of this have to do with him?

The entry log skipped ahead a few. _"Entry 005: We have determined it would be possible to recreate, in some form, the genetic code of Mew. It would, however, cost more than our current benefactor is willing to supply."_

"_Entry 010: A new benefactor has come forward and offered us unlimited funding, more than enough for our current project. We have accepted, despite rumors about who our new benefactor actually is."_

"_Entry 050: Even though we have confirmed that our benefactor is in fact the head of the Team Rocket, the notorious Giovanni, we have no choice but to continue our work for him. We have already begun the recreation of Mew's genetic structure… and my personal side project."_

Mewtwo was beginning to worry what was going on, but he kept listening. _"Entry 095: We nearly lost subject 1 today; its DNA became unstable and nearly collapsed. I managed to save it by adding my own DNA into its code – it is only a small dose, and as Giovanni has already had us altering the subject's DNA, I do not believe it will have adverse consequences."_

"_Entry 120: After discovering the full extent of the subject's genetic alteration, I have decided to give it a name, going off of the majority of its existing DNA, I have named it Mewtwo."_

Mewtwo's jaw dropped in surprise. _"These are about… me?"_ Despite his shock, the entries kept coming. _"Entry 205: …Amber died today; her DNA collapsed. We managed to save Mewtwo, but… I considered pulling the plug entirely, but I couldn't, I'm beginning to consider the possibility that Mewtwo might be related to me – it has my DNA in it, but... maybe I'm just trying to fill some form of void."_

"_Entry 256: It turns out Mewtwo is male, we were doing some tests with different hormones and… long story short, Marissa screamed and dropped her clipboard when she saw the… appendage."_

Mewtwo was now even more confused and scared.

"_Entry 300: The readings say that Mewtwo's psychic power is even greater than that of a fully trained Metagross or Alakazam. We're excited that the procedures have worked but I can't help but wonder what Giovanni wants with him."_

Mewtwo clenched his fists. He knew _exactly_ what Giovanni wanted. And he had given it to him. Mewtwo's anger was suppressed by the inhibitor, which was good, as otherwise he would have leveled the building. He also missed all but the last two entries.

"_Entry 326: I fear what Giovanni has in store for my son; yes, I've decided to call Mewtwo my own, he has my blood after all, perhaps this is some form of compensation for losing Amber... twice, but I don't care. As soon as he is ready, I am going to remove Mewtwo from this place and find somewhere safe for him."_

"_Entry.. entry 327: We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon... and we succeeded."_

Mewtwo was shocked silent, he was a… "A clone." Mewtwo spun around to see that Giovanni had entered the room. "I'm sorry you had to find out. Now I suppose I'll have to start over." He hit a button on a remote and unimaginable pain shot through Mewtwo's body, originating from the device on his back. "And this time, I'll have them design one without so much free will!"

That was the last straw for the Psychic-type. Mewtwo reached for his powers and accessed them at a primal level. "RAAAAAHHHH!" He screamed, using his actual voice for one of the first times.

Psychic energy blasted through the room, tearing apart the machinery and the device on Mewtwo's back, and launching Giovanni backwards.

The unconscious human could not see the Pokémon standing over him, couldn't see him reach out and touch his forehead, couldn't see him hesitate, and withdraw, with a firm and determined voice.

"_I won't be like you."_ Mewtwo then tore a hole in the ceiling and flew off, leaving a burning laboratory behind.

* * *

Mewtwo sat on an uninhabited island, leaning against a large boulder and thinking about what had occurred earlier.

"_Who am I?"_ he asked himself. _"Really?"_ He was more uncertain of himself than ever before. _"Where do I belong?"_ He looked to the night sky. _"What am I?"_

* * *

Celestia gasped as she came back to the present. "Th-that – you – I didn't…" She had no idea what to say. Mewtwo was unlike any being she had ever encountered, and not just in the genetically altered clone way.

"I-I'm sorry." She finally finished. "I didn't know."

"_No,"_ he replied curtly. _"You didn't."_ He had been in this situation before, he always hated it. People always felt sorry for him, he didn't like sympathy.

"I… I honestly have no idea how to react in this situation." This was unusual for the Princess, she had dealt with annoying dignitaries, emperors and kings, powerful creatures of all kinds, and social situations that would unnerve a therapist. But this was something insanely complicated and even more awkward.

But she wanted to help. The solar princess stepped forward and put one wing around Mewtwo. He tried to resist but Celestia was unexpectedly strong. She forced the resistant legendary into a hug, she knew he could have stopped her but she was glad he didn't. "I promise," She said, tears in her eyes. "That I won't force you back there." She still wanted the Pokémon out of Equestria, although nowhere near as much as she had before. In fact she would make sure that Arceus _didn't_ send them back there.

Mewtwo didn't know what to say, he had encountered few beings who were this accepting this quickly. _"Th-thank you."_ He said, finally breaking out of Celestia's grasp.

She nodded, she had more questions but figured that the legendary would want some time alone. "I'll return later." With that the princess walked out of the room, leaving Mewtwo alone with his thoughts.

The Genetic Pokémon smiled at the princess as she left, she seemed nice, he understood why Arceus chose this world, or he thought he did. Mewtwo looked the ceiling and sighed, memories of his past always left him depressed. _"Father."_


	13. Chapter 11

After Celestia dismissed the meeting, the group broke apart rather quickly. Lucario had asked if there was anywhere he could go train, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack offered to show him the castle gym; having no better alternative, Korrina had tagged along as well. Twilight invited Professor Juniper to the library so the two of them could exchange more notes on their respective worlds – Juniper had been happy to oblige. Fluttershy had taken Cubone for a tour of the castle gardens, and Misty and Togepi had gone with. Rarity said she was going to look at some of the tapestries and decorations around the castle in hopes of getting inspiration for refurbishing Luna and Celestia's old castle in the Everfree. Gene and Belle left with Fang to explain everything to the Houndoom, then planned to get Fang his own room so the two of them could be alone. And Spike and Princess Luna had snuck off to their rooms for a quick nap.

This left one spirit of chaos and one Earth pony mare wandering the halls of Canterlot Castle.

"-And then I said, oatmeal, are you crazy? And… Discord, are you even listening?"

The spirit of chaos turned and looked down at Pinkie Pie. "Oh, um, of course… actually, not really, no. Sorry but something just feels… off."

"Is it that little doohickey?" Pinkie pointed at the inhibitor around his neck.

"Maybe," Discord tapped his chin. "But it doesn't feel like it's coming from there, more like… everywhere."

"What do ya mean?"

Discord didn't answer, but instead looked around the hall they were in and spotted one of the palace's many windows. "One second." Discord floated over to the window and began to unlatch it. "Tia has spells throughout the castle that prevent too much chaos magic from leaking in." He explained.

"Ok," Pinkie Pie replied. "But why does that make you feel weird?"

"Oh, normally it doesn't," He answered, finally unlatching the window. "But since the clearing of the Everfree drained me I suppose…" Discord stopped as the magical equivalent of getting hit with a bucket of ice water slammed into him, nearly knocking him over. "My, oh my," He said with a devious smile. "Those spells work better than I thought." The glint in the Draconequus' eyes was similar to the one he often gained while torturing Twilight and the others after his escape. That is to say, mischievously evil.

Pinkie Pie noticed this and shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, Discord?" She chuckled nervously. "You alright, buddy?" Pinkie wanted to trust the reformed lord of chaos, it was part of her nature. But she couldn't just forget everything he had done, or how they no longer had a way to stop him.

Discord ignored the Earth pony for a moment and took a deep breath in. "This," Now that he was beyond Celestia's protective spells he could feel the forces of Equus again. He liked what he felt. "Is," The world was completely out of whack. And because he hadn't even done anything to cause it, all the excess chaos was flowing into him. "Delicious."

Pinkie Pie gulped and took a few more steps back. She was considering running to find Twilight, or Princess Celestia, or her Party Cannon. Discord noticed her again and smiled, this doing very little to reassure the mare.

"Now don't you worry your pretty little pink, puffy, party pony head." He patted Pinkie on her head. "I'm just absorbing the largest amount of natural chaos since before my rule is all."

Pinkie smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're feeling better!" She cried happily.

"Oh, yes," Discord nodded. "Much better," He rose up to his full height. "Thanks to everything that's been going on, the entire world has gone entirely, for lack of a better word, 'wonky' and thanks to this wonkiness I am absorbing a metric ton of chaos magic!" He smiled again. "And the best part, thanks to this nifty little device my dear friend Bio Chem made for me,"

"I thought you didn't like him."

"Almost _none_ of it is draining." Discord was, in a very basic way of thinking, a chaos magic generator. He naturally created chaos magic and it naturally left his body at a rate that was relatively normal for a magical being. But ever since the Pokémon's arrival his bodily functions had, much like the planet itself, been thrown out of whack.

Up until after Celestia and Luna had left the palace yesterday, Discord had felt as normal as a Draconequus could. Then, around the time he suspected the campaign to de-chaos the Everfree had begun, he felt a drain on his magic levels as the forest attempted to draw chaos directly from him.

But as soon as Bio Chem had placed the inhibitor around Discord's serpentine neck, he had been cut off from the drainage portion of Equus' magical field. What had not been expected was for him to remain connected to the portion that fed energy into him. This meant, that while his magic was draining, it was draining at his normal levels, this made almost no dent in the amount of extra chaos that was pouring into him.

"Pinkie Pie," Discord said suddenly. "I need you to do me a favor."

"Okie-dokie-loki!" Pinkie replied happily. "What is it?"

"I need you to inform the princesses that I will likely not be in attendance at this next meeting."

Pinkie Pie gasped. "But, but what if they need you?"

Discord waved a claw through the air. "Pish-posh," He replied. "I'm sure those three are perfectly capable of coming up with a plan without little old me. And besides," Discord looked out the window and towards the Everfree. "There's a little something I need to take care of."

"But-" Pinkie tried to speak up, to tell Discord that he should stay and help but was interrupted when Discord turned back to her.

"Pinkie Pie," He said. His voice lacking its usual mischievous tone. "This is something I _need _to do."

Pinkie could tell Discord was being serious, and that fact alone let her know just how important this was to him. "Alright," She finally answered. "But don't do anything stupid."

Discord smiled. "Don't you worry one bit," He said as he floated out the window. "When have I ever done anything stupid?" Discord disappeared in his usual puff of smoke. Leaving Pinkie Pie alone with her thoughts.

"I wonder what Gene and Belle are up to." She asked herself before hopping off.

* * *

Princess Celestia shook her head as she walked, trying to get Mewtwo's mental images out of her head. "I cannot let this get the best of me," She told herself. "Just have him move them to a different planet."

Celestia could no longer force Arceus to return to Earth and keep a clean conscious. That man… Giovanni, he was only comparable to Sombra really; Discord was more chaotic evil, and Chrysalis had her hive's best intentions at heart, granted she also had an outright hatred for the other races of Equus there as well. Nightmare Moon hadn't actually done anything as cruel as what Giovanni had, but this was mostly because she had only been on Equus for a few hours total, including her return.

"Did he plan for this to happen?" She asked herself. It certainly seemed that way to her. Celestia was almost to her room, where she hoped to take a quick shower before her next meeting, when one of her guards came rushing down the hallway.

"Princess Celestia!" He exclaimed as he saw her. "There's a crowd gathering at the front gate. They're demanding to be told what is going on."

Celestia sighed, she knew this would happen sooner or later. "I'll get right on it." She said, upset that yet another problem had presented itself.

The guard shifted nervously. "There's… something else, your majesty, that creature you ordered us not to attack?"

Celestia groaned. "Aegislash."

"Yes, it's, um, blocking the gates."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "That… actually doesn't sound too bad; we can't have a mob breaking into the castle."

The unicorn nodded. "Yes but, it's scaring the citizens. Also… they have another one of those… creatures with them. Some kind of fox type thing. They have it in a cage and it seems to be upset."

Celestia shook her head and started towards the front hall. _Why can't Luna or Twilight ever deal with the citizens?_ She thought to herself.

Once Celestia finally reached the front hall, she was surprised to find Rarity there, admiring several of the tapestries hanging on the walls. Once she spotted the Princess she smiled and trotted over to her. "Hello, Princess," She said with a small bow. "I suppose you're here to deal with those ruffians at the front gate?"

Celestia smiled. Talking to any of the former Element bearers always cheered her up, especially Pinkie Pie, but Rarity was good too. "Yes, I have to explain the situation to the citizens of Canterlot… or at least as much as I can without causing panic."

Rarity nodded and kept pace with the Princess as she exited the castle. Once outside, they saw a crowd of ponies right outside the front gate. They were standing a few feet back though, because a very intimidating four foot sword was floating in their path.

As Celestia neared the gate the crowd's murmuring ceased and they waited for the Princess to speak. Celestia used her magic to open the gates, she stepped beyond them and Aegislash moved out of her way, Rarity opted to remain inside the gates.

Celestia surveyed the crowd, she saw a few nobles, workers, even a few tourists. She also spotted a large cage, some kind of dog pen, at the center of the group.

The Princess cleared her throat. "My little ponies," she began. "I understand that you are all unsure of what is happening, and I wish to answer any questions you have to the fullest of my ability, but first, I would ask you to show me the Poké-… the creature, that you have found."

The crowd shifted and an elder Unicorn pushed the cage to the front of the congregation. "Caught it myself," He said proudly. "Use ta catch critters for them fancy fur coats." Celestia gritted her teeth. Fur coats and other such commodities had been introduced to Equestria after trade agreements were made with Griffinhiem and Canida. While many ponies found the idea appalling, others, nobles and the upper class mostly, had actually liked the outfits. "S'too bad I retired – could've made a lot a bits off of this one."

Once the cage finally reached the front of the crowd, most of the ponies were feeling uncomfortable. Fur coats had fallen out of favor in the past few years, thanks in no small part to several animal rights groups.

When Celestia finally laid eyes on the creature in the cage, she gasped. Having lived for as long as she had, Celestia had thought she'd seen it all, up until yesterday, but she was still getting used to just how different the Pokémon looked from each other. Aegislash was intimidating, but not that scary; Belle and Gene both had a more regal appearance, like a princess and her knight. Several of the legendaries were awe-inspiring, some were actually rather cute, at least one looked like a pony, some were downright strange, and still other Pokémon could even be considered horrifying. Of the ones she'd encountered, this meant Hydreigon. But the creature in the cage before her was beautiful, regal, awe-inspiring, and intimidating. Yet, it was also quite normal, considering the Pokémon she had seen, something that could nearly be mistaken for an Equestrian native, and almost… cute, in a way.

The creature before her had a white coat, but unlike her own, this one's appeared to be tinted light yellow or almost orange. It was fox-like in appearance, but bigger than any fox she had seen. Its entirely red eyes also struck her. But it's most defining trait was, without a doubt, its tails. All nine of them.

"Nine?" The Ninetales' eyes were filled with fear and apprehension as the Fire-type looked up at the princess.

"Could've made at least a few coats outta this one, I'd bet." The stallion said aloud. The Ninetales whimpered and tried to move further from the stallion, but the cage stopped her.

"Open it." Celestia ordered.

"Pardon, your highness?" The stallion asked, not believing what he had heard.

"Open the cage," She repeated, staring directly at the unicorn. "Now." Celestia didn't want to be harsh with her ponies, even the ones whose life choices she disagreed with. But seeing the Ninetales in the cage, she reacted the same way she would if someone caged a phoenix or another pony.

The stallion realized the Princess wasn't joking and walked to the front of the cage where he inserted a key into the lock pad and swung the door open. The Ninetales immediately leapt out of the cage, and hid underneath Princess Celestia.

Celestia's eyes went wide as the creatures nuzzled her legs affectionately. "Thank you." she said to the Princess, although without the translation spell Celestia could only guess what she had said, she guessed thank you.

"You're… welcome, little one." She said with a smile. She turned back to the assembled crowd. "Now I assume you're here because you have questions about these creatures?"

A murmur of agreement went up from the crowd.

"Then I'll explain," The Princess took a moment to gather her thoughts, then explained. "These being are all members of a race collectively known as Pokémon. Due to recent events, an… acquaintance of mine felt it was imperative that the Pokémon be moved to Equestria; I have yet to work out all the details myself, but one thing is clear – the Pokémon are just as intelligent as you or I, and they all have their own special kind of magic. I suggest you treat them as equals and, if you find any that seem to need help, direct them to the city guard. The same goes if you encounter any that are hostile. Do not engage them, just contact the guard."

Celestia finished with a smile. She didn't like lying to her ponies, but in certain cases she knew it was necessary. For example, telling the ordinary pony that a being more powerful than the princess had moved to Equestria and that there was very little she could do about it would cause mass hysteria.

Just as Celestia was about to dismiss the crowd, a stallion near the front asked a question that, in retrospect, seemed rather obvious.

"Princess, just what is that thing?" He pointed to Aegislash, Celestia turned to the Steel-type that floated silently beside her. She had ordered Aegislash earlier to patrol the castle, figuring he couldn't get in too much trouble that way, with explicit directions not to harm anyone and to protect any ponies who needed help, she figured if this thing was going to be around for a while she might as well make use of it.

"This is… one of the Pokémon, they come in many, many forms, and he is... serving as a _temporary_addition to the palace guard."

"Greetings, little ponies." Aegislash greeted.

Several of the ponies took a few steps back and most decided that they would wait for the next open court before asking questions, hoping that the Aegislash wouldn't be present.

The crowd dispersed and left Celestia at the gate with her loyal sword and the Ninetales she had freed.

"Well, I think that went rather well, actually," Rarity noted. "It certainly could have gone worse."

"Yes, I suppose so." Celestia agreed with a nod. "But what about this?" She gestured to the Ninetales now sitting at her side.

"Nine!" She cried happily looking up at the Princess, unlike most Pokémon, Ninetales were more in tune with magic, and at times, psychic abilities, which was where their curses came from, so this Ninetales could sense just how magical the princess was. Plus, she could tell that the Alicorn would likely live as long as she would, which was a plus.

"Oh, how sweet," Rarity cooed. "I think she likes you."

Celestia tilted her head and looked back at the Fox Pokémon smiling up at her. "Wait a moment." The Princess cast the translation spell again, making it so Ninetales could speak. "That's better," Celestia bent down and looked right into the Pokémon's eyes. "You realize that you don't have to stay with me, don't you? I would have done the same for anyone."

"But I can stay, can't I?" Ninetales asked hopefully. "I sorta just evolved and I don't have a den anymore." Ninetales had no idea where she was, or what was going on.

Celestia picked up on this and silently cursed Arceus again. _Just one more thing to add to the list_. she thought. Seeing the sad look in Ninetales eyes, Celestia sighed. "Of course you can stay here, miss..."

"I'm Ninetales," She answered happily. "Unless you wanna give me a nickname?" Ninetales had always wanted to meet a nice Trainer and travel the world. That was part of the reason she had sought out a Fire Stone.

Celestia's expression turned to confusion until she remembered what Gene and Juniper had told her, that singular Pokémon could be called by their species name or, after being caught, given a nickname by their Trainer. "Um, no, that's alright." This didn't deter Ninetales in the least.

"Ok," She followed Celestia as the solar princess headed back to the castle, Aegislash and Rarity following behind them. "What's your name?"

Celestia smiled. "I'm Princess Celestia."

* * *

Pinkie Pie trotted down one of the many, many halls in Canterlot castle, she had spent the past half hour searching for any of her friends but had yet to find anyone.

"I'll go… this way." She said happily as she came to an intersection, despite never having been in this part of the castle before Pinkie wasn't the least bit worried about getting lost, she'd just have to wait for one of her friends to ask where she was.

Pinkie Pie hummed to herself as she continued down the peaceful hallway, suddenly her left ear got itchy and her back right leg started twitching. "Oh, oh, somethings gonna-" She was cut off when an orange spark of light shot down the hallway, ricocheting off the walls.

"Rotom, tom, tom, tom, tom, tom, tom!" Pinkie ducked as the little orange speck shot past her head and into a vase, knocking it over, but not breaking it.

"-Fall over." She finished redundantly.

Pinkie was about to check out the vase to see what was inside when a familiar brown Earth pony ran into view. "Miss Pie!" Bio Chem called. "Thank goodness." He came to a stop in front of Pinkie Pie, grinning wildly. "I need your help, you haven't seen an electromagnetic, plasmic, non-corporeal, self-sustaining energy being around here by any chance have you?"

"...Uuuuhhh... no?" Pinkie understood about one outta every three words in that sentence.

Bio Chem sighed. "Alright, thanks anyway." The stallion shook his head before rushing off.

"Well, that was rude," Pinkie said to herself. "He asks me something I have no way of understanding, then rushes off without explaining himself? Who does that?"

"Tom?"

Pinkie turned to see a tiny orange head sticking out of the vase. Once it saw her, it ducked back inside.

"Hey," Pinkie called after it, running over and somehow sticking her head in the mouth of the vase. "It's alright. I'm not gonna hurt 'cha."

After getting over the shock of Pinkie sticking her entire head in its hiding place, the Rotom looked up at the mare, and she smiled back at him. This was the first smile he had seen since winding up in the castle that didn't scare him; it was a true smile, one that made him smile, which in turn made Pinkie's smile even wider. That made Rotom laugh.

Pinkie giggled and pulled her head out of the vase. "I'ma bet you're a Pokémon, aren't you?"

Rotom zipped out of the vase and floated in front of Pinkie. "Rotom." He nodded affirmatively.

"Well, you're a neat little Pokémon." Pinkie replied causing the Plasma Pokémon to laugh. Suddenly Pinkie Pie gasped.

"Idea~! You can come with me. I've been looking for my friends and a few of them are Pokémon, they can translate and then we can really get introduced."

Rotom snickered and zipped into Pinkie's mane, causing it to stick up in random places and puff up even more than usual. "I'll take that as a yes!" Pinkie looked around, then turned back down the way she had come. "They're probably this way."

After a few more minutes Pinkie spoke again. "I'm Pinkie Pie by the way, but you can call me Pinkie, all my friends do."

"Rotom?" He asked.

"... I'll figure out what you're saying later. Until then I'll just call you Zap, 'cause you're all static-y and stuff. And cause meeting you was a real shock!" Pinkie laughed at her own joke.

Zap smiled at his new name. As Pinkie continued to search for her friends, she told Zap all about herself, her friends, and Ponyville. "-And then Twilight became a Princess, so she has wings now. Not long after that there was this little incident with some of Discord's plants, but he apologized afterwards, and – oh, look, we're here."

Zap stuck his head out of Pinkie's mane to see that they had stopped in front of a pair of doors pretty much indistinguishable from any others. "I think Belle and Gene are in there."

Pinkie Pie pushed open the door just as Belle threw herself into Gene's arms, kissing him deeply.

* * *

"-This is where the Princess said you could stay." The Pegasus guard said as he led Gene and Belle into their room. "If you require anything, all you have to do is ask."

"Thanks." Gene said, closing the door behind them.

After the meeting Gene and Belle had explained everything that had happened to Fang, the Houndoom had actually taken the information in stride and hadn't even freaked out all that much when they explained how Arceus was involved. The Dark Pokémon was currently resting comfortably in a room adjacent to the one Belle and Gene had been given.

"So," Belle whispered to her mate. "What do you wanna do?" The tone in her voice made her choice obvious, but Gene had other plans.

"Can we talk about something, Belle? Something kinda serious?" Belle sensed Gene's worry and immediately turned to him, placing one hand on his cheek in reassurance.

"Anything."

Gene smiled. Belle was always willing to listen to him, no matter what. This was extremely important since, until recently, their relationship had been a bit… troublesome at times, although neither would have changed a thing. Except for a few laws.

"What did you want to talk about?" Belle asked.

"It's more of a request really," Gene answered. "I know it's part of your nature to be protective and all but, could you stop threatening to tear people's minds apart? I don't think the ponies understand, and I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you because of it." Back on Earth, people at least had a vague understanding of Belle's protective nature, although very few knew the entire story behind it.

Belle sighed. "I'll try Gene, but like you said, it's part of who I am, you're my mate and Trainer… or, you were my Trainer, I guess." Belle giggled. "Funny isn't it? Even without a Pokéball, I'm still just as protective and Fang still treats you the same."

Gene smiled. "Yeah, you think the others are alright?" To Gene, his team was his family, in some ways more so than his actual family, and he worried for their well-being.

"After all we've been through? I'm sure they can take care of themselves."

Gene knew she was right, but he still worried, especially for a couple of his Pokémon who weren't exactly the most peaceful-looking creatures.

"Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Belle asked after a moment, sensing unease in her partner.

Gene nodded. "Yeah, and this one is about… us."

Belle could tell he was having trouble putting exactly what he meant to words. "If you can't say it I could always…" She put one hand on his temple to show what she meant.

"No, I – let me do it." For a second, Belle didn't know what he meant, but soon his intentions were made clear. Using his new psychic abilities Gene transmitted his thoughts to Belle's mind, expressing what words never could.

The love he felt for her, memories of their most precious, and most difficult, moments together, and his hopes for their future together including…

Belle's breath caught in her throat and for a moment everything was silent. She looked up at her mate, tears of joy in her eyes and threw herself into his arms, kissing him deeply and whispering a single thought in his mind. _"Yes."_

The pair might have stayed like that forever, but as fate would have it, somepony was there to interrupt. Again. Gods everywhere must have had it out for them.

"Awww." Pinkie Pie cried, startling the Pokémon.

As the pair turned to Pinkie, the pony noticed the tears streaking down Belle's face. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Belle just smiled. "Nothing," She grabbed Gene's hand and looked to him, still smiling. "Nothing at all."

Pinkie looked between the pair for a moment before asking. "Is this a bad time? 'Cause Mr. and Mrs. Cake said I'm supposed to knock before going coming into somepony's bedroom but I keep forgetting."

Belle just laughed, nothing could upset her good mood. "No Pinkie, we were just talking."

"Oh, alright, in that case would you mind-"

"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight interrupted her friend as she rushed into the room. "Glad I found you; where's Discord? We're supposed to meet Princess Celestia in her room to talk about royalty-level problems and I can't find him."

Pinkie Pie visibly winced. "Uhh, Discord said he had to take care of something in the Everfree, he said he was sorry he had to miss the meeting but he said it was really important."

Twilight gaped in disbelief. "He. Just. Left?! And what's he planning this time? Oh, I've got to find the princess!"

Twilight galloped out of the room and Pinkie followed her calling. "Don't worry Twilight! What's the worst that could happen?"

* * *

The Everfree Forest, about forty-five minutes ago.

Discord appeared in a puff of green smoke on the outskirts of the Everfree, not far from Ponyville. He normally would've teleported further in but the fluctuating energies were a veritable mine field of unstable magic.

The spirit of chaos didn't care, his mind was set solely on finding the problem and solving it, by whatever means necessary.

"Get ready, whoever you are," Discord said as he walked into the Everfree. "For a storm of chaos!"


	14. Chapter 12

Zygarde hummed to himself while he worked, he knew it sounded silly coming from one of the oldest beings in existence, especially one who was as serious as him, but he found it relaxing.

The Order Pokémon was currently by himself. Shaymin was currently in the process of reshaping the forest itself, but Zygarde had gone ahead to continue draining the chaos.

"_What even causssed thisss much chaosss to sssettle here?"_ He wondered aloud. There was more chaos in this forest than he had ever encountered before, although since Arceus always leaned more towards order, that wasn't a surprise.

"_Perhapsss thisss Dissscord hasss sssomething to do with it."_ Zygarde wasn't worried about facing Discord, he was simply curious as to how the Draconequus functioned.

Pushing the thoughts from his mind, Zygarde turned back to the task at hand. As he slithered into a new portion of the forest, he stuck his tail into the ground and concentrated, and as Zygarde used his powers to feel the energy in the ground, he was greeted with the now familiar sensation of an abundance of chaos magic. Sighing, the legendary activated his powers. The dots on his frills, body and face all glowed white as he absorbed the chaos and worked it down to the smallest portion of its nature, the tiniest hint of order that held all of existence together, then he strengthened it.

Zygarde knew that chaos and order needed each other to exist but felt that too much chaos could only lead to disaster, and the Everfree was his definition of too much. Discord actually thought the reverse was true.

As Zygarde finished purifying the clearing he breathed a sigh of relief. The Order Pokémon had never had to undo this much chaos before, and after nearly two days he was beginning to tire. _"I sssupossse a ressst might be in order."_ He said to himself. He could sense just how much area the Everfree covered, and he had just barely purified ten percent of the total area, and the deeper he went, the more chaotic the forest became.

Zygarde found a clearing not far from where he'd been where the sun broke through the canopy. After purifying the clearing he smiled and curled up in the sunlight, allowing his body to soak up the heat.

Meanwhile, not far from where Zygarde was napping, a certain chaotic force of nature was trudging through a newly harmonious portion of the Everfree, and doing his best to undo it as we walked.

_Snap!_

A group of trees twisted together, their branches forming gruesome looking shapes.

_Snap!_

A bush grew and reshaped itself into a perfect likeness of Discord himself.

_Snap!_

Discord loosed a large amount of chaos into the ground, overwriting the new harmony.

_Snap!_

Zygarde's eyes snapped open.

Discord continued merrily down the path he had chosen, one where the trees parted before him and the ground was made of quicksilver. Discord smiled; he had no idea why he hadn't done this type of thing before – Celestia couldn't get mad at him for causing chaos in the Everfree.

"Perhaps I'll build a summer home here," He mused. "A floating castle or, oh, one that has legs!" He chuckled and snapped his fingers again, transmuting a large boulder into a giant rubber ball that began to roll around of its own accord.

While Discord continued to bend reality to his whim, most of the creatures of the Everfree were doing their best to stay out of his path. Manticores and Cockatrices hid, Timberwolves hid in the darkness, just out of Discord's view, and most Pokémon scrambled to get away, but not all.

As Discord continued down his self-made path, hoping to draw the attention of whatever Pokémon had caused the Everfree's transformation, he was blissfully unaware that he was being watched.

A pair of yellow eyes observed Discord as he worked, eyes that took in every little detail of what the chaos lord did, and found the chaos amusing. "Zzzzz."

Discord whistled happily, absentmindedly turning this into that and that into a giant tennis racket. But being the impatient, chaotic being he was, Discord quickly grew bored, unlike most of the times when he went on a chaos spree. This time he actually had a purpose. "You'd think a being of order would be a little more punctual." He tapped his wristwatch to make sure it wasn't off, then heard a rumbling coming from the thicket and smiled.

"Zzzzzaaaaddd!" A colossal snake that Discord almost mistook for a basilisk burst from the bushes. Zygarde stared at Discord angrily. _"What are you doing here, Lord of Chaosss?"_ There was no doubt in Zygarde's mind that the being before him was the one known as Discord, if the mismatched body hadn't been enough of a hint the sheer amount of chaos radiating from the creature was.

"So the 'savior' of the Everfree finally decides to show himself, hmm?" Discord surveyed Zygarde. "I thought a being who embodied order would be a little more impressive."

Zygarde hissed at Discord. _"What do you want, Dissscord?"_

"Oh, you know my name!" Discord swooned falsely. "I'm ssso flattered." He hissed, mocking Zygarde.

Zygarde growled. _"Dragon Breath!"_ The attack would've hit Discord head on had he not teleported at the last second.

Zygarde searched the clearing frantically for the Draconequus until a voice from above him asked him a question. "So you know who I am," Discord said from atop Zygarde's head. "But I don't even know your name."

"_Yahhh!"_ Zygarde shook his head and Discord floated to the ground like a feather.

"That is no way to start any kind of relationship, especially a rivalry, so go on, introduce yourself." Discord held up a microphone. "Preferably some form of impressive monologue-y intro, I want to have a few for reference next time I do one."

Zygarde scowled but introduced himself._"I am Zygarde, lord of order and harmony."_

Discord sighed and put away his recording equipment. "Zygarde huh?" He tapped his chin with a talon. "Weird name, I think I call you Zy."

"_You will do no sssuch thing Dissscord!"_ The Order Pokémon snapped. _"What you will do isss ceassse thisss infernal chaosss making and leave thisss placcce at onccce."_

"Hmm, tempting but I came here to do something… what was it? What was it?" Discord snapped his fingers again, causing a bush to erupt in Poison Joke. "Oh, that's right! I came to stop you."

Discord no longer had his usual mirth in his eyes, the Draconequus' face warped into a serious expression. Zygarde laughed. _"You cannot ssstop me."_ He replied. _"Order alwaysss winsss in the end, or did you forget the lesssonsss your little friendsss taught you?"_ Zecora had explained Discord's current position to Zygarde when she had warned him of the chaos lord's power, then she had gone to Ponyville to try and find Fluttershy or Twilight and warn them.

Discord shook his head. "Hmph. You're one to talk. You come here and the first thing you do is start upsetting the natural balance? What do you think is going to happen?!"

"_Order will prevail,"_ Zygarde said with a smirk. _"And chaosss will fail, jussst asss it alwaysss hasss."_He looked Discord right in the eyes. _"Jussst asss you alwaysss have."_

Discord growled. He could handle Celestia, or Luna, or even Twilight and the others occasionally gloating over how they defeated him, although they hardly ever did, they had bested him fair and square, although he would never admit that. But Zygarde had never even _met_ him before, let alone fought or beaten him. And Discord would not have some orderly oriented little braggart acting like a big shot.

"If you think order always wins," Discord said with a small smile. "Then I guess you wouldn't be afraid of a little CHAOS!"

As Discord screamed the last word, the landscape around them shifted, trees melted away, the ground stretched and morphed and after a moment Zygarde and Discord stood facing each other in the center of a clearing; nay, a veritable battlefield.

Zygarde grinned. _"If it'sss a battle you want, then it'sss a battle you'll get! Earthquake!"_

Zygarde slammed his tail against the ground and the battlefield shook, Discord simply lifted his feet off the ground. "Oh poo, I don't have specific attacks to call out threateningly," Discord said mockingly. "I guess I'll just have to make do with… Let's get chaotic!"

Twin orbs of golden energy formed in Discord's mismatched hands. He hurled them both at Zygarde and one hit the Order Pokémon, but the chaos was absorbed as so much chaos had before. The next attack was aimed at the ground in front of Zygarde, as it hit a patch of Poison Joke sprouted and spread all around the Dragon-Type.

"Let's see what happens to a Pokémon when exposed to Poison Joke." Discord smirked. "I better remember the results for Twilight."

Zygarde said nothing and simply slithered forward, absorbing the plants chaos as he moved, causing it to wither._"At thisss point I sssuppossse Keldeo or Mew might sssay 'isss that the bessst you've got?'"_

Discord frowned, but didn't let it get to him. _If pure chaos won't affect him_, he thought to himself. _Then I'll just try a less… direct approach._

Discord flew forward towards Zygarde, grinning like a mad man. "Batter up!" He cried, materializing a giant golf club.

"_Crunch!"_ Zygarde opened his jaw impossibly wide, actually unhinging it as he did, and bit down on the club, snapping it in two. _"Pity,"_ He sighed, spitting out the putter's shattered remains. _"I misssed."_

Discord didn't care, he had plenty more where that came from. "Why don't you chew on this, Zy?" Discord materialized a stick of dynamite and tossed it at Zygarde, the Order Pokémon attempted to back away but the explosive followed him, then exploded, knocking Zygarde to the ground.

"Hhhhh!" Zygarde hissed as he rose back to his full height. _"Land's Wrath!"_

Energy from the surrounding ground flowed into Zygarde's body where the legendary gathered it in his mouth and-

"TSSR!" A Blue laser shot from the Ground-Type, hitting Discord before he could react. The beam slammed him into the ground and caused him to be driven back even further, creating a 15-foot long crater.

"Ow." He said as he popped out of the hole. Discord quickly looked himself over and saw he was covered in scrapes and cuts, if Discord had had more time, or a small amount of patience, he would have realized that since all of Zygarde's attacks were powered by order that he could actually get physically hurt, and that he could do the same to Zygarde. Instead, he melted into the ground, confusing the Order Pokémon.

After a moment of searching Zygarde became worried. _"Where-?"_ The ground around Zygarde rose up and suddenly slammed shut on him like he had been sitting in a giant book. Discord rose out of the ground and smiled.

"How do ya like them apples?" Discord quipped. He materialized a Zap Apple and took a bite, waiting for the Pokémon to burst from his rocky trap, but nothing happened.

Confused, Discord unfolded the ground and saw a circular hole leading straight down. Quickly realizing what had happened, the chaos lord floated until he was safely above the ground.

Zygarde then burst from the earth, looking much like a black, green, and white blur. _"Extreme Speed!"_The move rocketed the Order Pokémon upwards and he rammed into Discord. They both fell to the earth and landed a good amount of distance from each other.

"Is that the best_you've_ got?" Discord mocked. "Even those little trinkets the girls wore were more impressive, and I don't just mean in power."

"_At leassst I wasssn't beaten by a prisssy little pony and her friendsss!"_

Discord snapped to attention. "Say what you want about me, Zygarde," He began walking forward. "Insult my appearance, my powers, and even my failures," He was now only a few feet from Zygarde. "But never, never. Insult. My. Friends!" Discord had been only a few feet from Zygarde as he finished his warning, but, as he is apt to do, as he finished his entire body blurred and shot forward, Discord raked his talons down Zygarde's side, his chaos tearing through the order surrounding the Pokémon and leaving four gashes on his side. Discord noticed that while the Order Pokémon's blood was red, his flesh was as black as his scales.

"Hhhhhh!"

"_Gahhhh!"_

Zygarde hissed and screamed in pain, his wounds steaming as his body's natural defenses destroyed the chaos magic. He glared at Discord and shot forward faster than the chaos lord expected.

Zygarde quickly wrapped his body around Discord's serpentine form and squeezed. Discord's eyes popped from his head almost comically, then something snapped.

"AAAAHHHH!" Discord disappeared from Zygarde's wrap and reappeared half way across the field. Discord quickly surveyed himself to see what was wrong, he saw that his lion arm was twisted at an odd angle, he poked it and- "AAAHH!" Yep, his arm was broken, and because order had snapped the bone it wouldn't heal immediately.

Discord looked up to see Zygarde sliding across the field. Knowing he wouldn't reach Discord before the Draconequus teleported, he hoped to at least delay the chaos lord's actions with his next move._"Sandstorm!"_Zygarde whipped up a raging sandstorm which covered the field in seconds.

Discord coughed as the stinging sand hit him and snapped his talons. He suddenly found himself a good hundred feet above the storm. "Now my throat's all dry," He whined, his frown quickly turned to a smile. "I think I could use a little glass of water." Discord tried to snap the fingers on his paw but was once again greeted with the unfamiliar pain. He snapped his talons and a glass of water appeared over the battlefield. The glass held the entirety of Ponyville Lake, something he knew he would have to correct later, and cast its shadow over the field, then Discord poured it.

Zygarde looked up as heard what sounded like a waterfall, his eyes went wide as tons of water was dropped on top of him. _"Camouflage!"_He cried before the water completely covered him.

Discord floated gingerly above the quickly receding water line and smiled as he was greeted by the sound of coughing. He turned to see a waterlogged and half-drowned Zygarde lying on the ground. While Camouflage had lessened the damage done by the water, it hadn't let him breathe it.

"You give up yet?" Discord asked with a grin.

Zygarde rose off of the ground and stared down at Discord. _"Never."_

Zygarde then did something he had only done a few times before. He channeled order. Many legendaries had powers far beyond their normal attacks. Cresselia's pleasant dreams, Celebi's time travel, and Victini's nearly boundless energy were only a few examples, but Zygarde's ability allowed him to tap into the pure forces of order and loose it all in a single beam of energy.

Discord could see what Zygarde was doing; he could see the energy swirling around the Pokémon, and Discord was scared. The Elements of Harmony turned Discord to stone because they could sense a tiny bit of good in the Draconequus. Zygarde's attack would likely vaporize the spirit of disharmony.

But Discord wasn't about to be outdone. As Zygarde prepared to fire his attack Discord gathered as much chaos energy as he could which, thanks to the chaotic state of the world and the device around his neck that kept it from draining, was quite a lot. Discord gathered the energy in his hands, wincing as he held up his broken paw.

"ZZZZAAAAADDDD!" Zygarde fired a beam of pure order at Discord.

"Yahhh!" Discord loosed his chaos stream, channeling a virtual sea of chaos into the blast.

The beams collided halfway between the two beings, and for a moment, time seemed to slow down. The beams crashed and wrapped around each other, twisting and morphing into a ball of chaotic and harmonic energy. Then it started convulsing and glowing brighter, and brighter, and brighter until…

"_Oh,"_

"Ponyfeathers."

The orb exploded outwards and for a moment everything was silent, then the sound wave hit like sonic charge. An ear-shattering explosion knocked Discord and Zygarde backwards in opposite directions, and then traveled outwards, hitting Ponyville, Canterlot, and even reaching halfway to the Crystal Empire before dissipating.

The sound wave shattered windows in Ponyville, knocked over trees, and sent every living being running for shelter.

At that point, a moment after the sound wave stopped, Discord might have stood up and, surveying his surroundings, said something akin to "Fluttershy is going to be so upset." or "Tia is going to kill me." or "So that's what would happen; better tell Twilight." Of course he didn't – an unconscious being makes no remarks.

Twilight Sparkle ran to Celestia's room as quickly as she could. After learning that Discord had left, she had futilely searched the castle in hopes he had been joking. After that had proved fruitless, she went to find Princess Celestia, first checking the dignitary wing and then she rushed to her room.

As Twilight entered the hall where the princesses and Discord (on opposite sides) slept, she saw that Aegislash was floating in front of Celestia's door, in between two castle guards who looked both nervous and upset. Both presumably due to the giant sword who was trying to do their job.

Twilight slowed to a walk as she neared the door. "I'm here to see the Princess." she stated firmly. Aegislash looked her over and, recognizing her as Princess Twilight Sparkle, moved out of the way so she could pass.

Twilight entered her mentor's room and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her there, along with a large white fox creature with nine tails that moved like the solar alicorn's mane sleeping on her bed.

Celestia turned as she heard the door open and close and smiled when she saw Twilight there. "Twilight, good, now we just need Luna and Discord and we can begin."

"Actually that's what I'm here about," Twilight said nervously. "You see, it seems that Discord kinda… left."

Celestia blinked once and shook her head. "He did what now?" She asked in exasperation.

"Yeah, apparently he wanted to see what's happening in the Everfree and-"

"He what?!"

Celestia and Twilight turned back to the door to see a bemused Princess Luna standing there. "Discord was sick only this morning. Where would he get the notion that seeking out something that is purifying the Everfree is a good idea?!"

Luna was honestly worried for the Draconequus; she might not have agreed with everything he did, but even though Discord delighted in pranking her and her beloved sister every other week, she definitely did not want to see him get hurt.

"Calm down Luna," Celestia soothed her sister. "I'm sure Discord is fine, he's more powerful than most give him credit for." She smiled. "And besides, what's the worst–?"

**BOOOOMM!**

The entire castle, and city, shook with a force greater than the harmonic blast that had purified Luna and petrified Discord, and louder than the explosion that resulted from the relocation of the Hall of Legends.

Celestia, Luna, and Twilight all fell to the floor as the castle shook and, as the shaking subsided, the princesses stood back up and Luna looked to her sister, a distinct lack of humor in her eyes. "And that is what happens. You had to ask, sister."

Arceus sighed as he considered his current predicament. Mewtwo was successfully in Canterlot. Ever since Shaymin had told the Chesnaught the other day, word of what Arceus had done was spreading across the land, and Arceus had worked a few extremely horrible possible futures out of the realm of possibility, but now he was dealing with an entirely new problem.

"_I refuse to stay this close to him for one more moment!"_ Reshiram roared.

His family.

"_For once, Reshiram and I are in agreement."_ Zekrom stated. The Deep Black Pokémon crossed his arms._"Kyurem is cold-hearted and exceedingly disturbing to be around."_

"_You do realize you're related to him, don't you?"_ When it came to relations the Tao Trio were more confusing than any other group. Arceus was certain he had created all three of them separately but, as he had been locked away and researching ways to break out during the events in question. He had not witnessed the 'Great Dragon' the Unovians spoke of. If what Victini and Landorus, the only Unovian legendaries around at that point, said was true, then Kyurem, using his abilities, had actually fused with Reshiram and Zekrom in order to help the twin heroes bring life to the newly formed Unova region.

The trio finally managed to split apart after the twins began to battle and Reshiram and Zekrom had resented Kyurem ever since. Another side effect had been that while before the fusion, the trio had been as related as Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza were which is to say, not at all. Afterwards, while Reshiram and Zekrom still shared no relations, Kyurem was now as related to the Deep Black and Vast White Pokémon as Mewtwo was to Mew, which was in a very roundabout manner but still counted if you were being technical.

"_We are not!"_ The pair screamed in unison, then glared at each other.

_These two hate each other more than Yveltal and Xerneas._ Arceus thought to himself. _"Fine, fine, but what do you want me to do? Kyurem's been in his room since yesterday and he hasn't caused any problems for either of you in several centuries."_

"_Lets us leave,"_ Zekrom stated bluntly. _"A lot of the others don't want to stay much longer either."_

Zekrom was right; getting all the legendaries together was like a family reunion, except that in his family some of the members were literally polar opposites. And some of the legendaries preferred solitude to the company of others, in addition to Kyurem, Rayquaza, Groudon, Zapdos, and Yveltal had secluded themselves in their rooms after Arceus had ended the meeting yesterday. The Alpha Pokémon had tried to convince them to socialize a bit when he had visited everyone, but had little success, especially since Groudon was nursing a bruised ego after Kyogre beat him in their latest battle.

In all honesty Arceus thought that everything was going pretty well, at least no one had blown anything up yet.

"_I can't let everyone leave just yet. If the ponies saw you two or Rayquaza, or probably even Thundurus flying overhead, they would panic."_ Arceus shook his head. _"And I believe we've already caused enough of that."_

Reshiram looked to Arceus, she knew how panicky mortals could get around legendaries, N had taught her that when she was traveling with him. She had never meant to be captured, because she and Zekrom had been in stone sleep for several centuries prior to the events involving Team Plasma, they hadn't actually know of the existence of Pokéballs until after the fact, but after it had happened she had developed a soft spot in her heart for the boy. And she knew that while he would never admit it Zekrom felt the same for Black.

"_Lord Arceus,"_ She began. _"Perhaps an-"_She was going to suggest that he make an announcement of sorts through either the Princess she had been told of or using his daughters' psychic powers, she was, however, interrupted when an explosion rocked the temple.

**BOOOOMM!**

The temple stopped shaking after a moment.

"_What was that?"_ Zekrom asked.

The duo looked to Arceus, who had his eyes shut as he tried to discern the epicenter of the blast. _"I'm about to find out."_ The Alpha Pokémon disappeared in a flash of gold light and reappeared a moment later floating above a giant crater in the Everfree forest, he immediately picked up on the swirling streams of energy that littered the area, and recognized the energy signature of one of the legendaries.

Unnoticed by Arceus another flash of golden light brought three Alicorns into existence on the opposite side of the crater.

Celestia surveyed the scene and recognized the magical signature of a certain lord of chaos. "Discord!" she shouted, calling the Draconequus' name half in anger and half in worry.

"_Zygarde!"_ Arceus called the Order Pokémon with the same tone.

The god and the princesses noticed each other and quickly turned to face each other. Before either of them could say anything, a pained groan brought their attention to a swath of broken trees at the edge of the crater. Recognizing the voice, the princesses ran to offer their assistance, Celestia shot Arceus a _"We need to talk"_ look before joining her sister and student.

Arceus, piecing together what must have happened, turned to face opposite the way the alicorns had ran. There he saw yet another swath of fallen trees and upturned ground leading away from the crater. He floated to the end of the wreckage and found Zygarde, unconscious, battered and covered in cuts and scrapes, but alive.

"_What did you do?"_ Arceus asked the unconscious Pokémon, getting no response from Zygarde, Arceus sighed and picked the Order Pokémon up in a psychic grasp. Soon, the pair were back at the crater, waiting at the edge of the forest where Celestia, Luna and Twilight had disappeared into.

Not a moment later the three of them reemerged from the forest carrying the half-awake body of Discord in their magic. When the chaos lord saw Arceus and Zygarde, his eyes snapped fully open.

"KEEP HIM AWAY FROM ME!" He started squirming in the magic until the Alicorns let him down and he hid behind Celestia. "THAT SNAKE TRIED TO KILL ME!"

Celestia and the others all glared at Arceus. _"I have no idea what happened."_ He answered truthfully, he had yet to examine the time stream to figure out what had transpired recently.

"I'LL TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED!" Discord replied. "ZYGARDE WENT FULL 'ORDER' AND TRIED TO VAPORIZE ME!"

Arceus looked at Discord in confusion, then turned to the princesses. _"Why is he screaming?"_

Twilight looked to Discord, a half-lidded expression of slight annoyance on her face. There was sadness in her eyes as well, but the annoyance was dominant. "Because whatever caused that explosion rendered him completely deaf." She put a hoof to her head. "Ow. He's only been screaming for two minutes and I already have a headache."

"WHAT?"

Arceus looked over the chaos lord. He had a broken arm and was as badly beaten as Zygarde, which meant that the Order Pokémon was also probably deaf. Arceus sighed.

"_Heal Pulse."_

A pink shock wave traveled outwards from Arceus and the energy was quickly absorbed by the battered bodies of Discord and Zygarde. Cuts closed, bruises vanished, ear drums healed and Discord's broken arm reshaped itself and fused back together.

Zygarde suddenly jolted awake. When he saw Arceus and the princesses all staring at him, he recoiled slightly. _"Isss everything alright, my lord?"_ He asked nervously.

"_No,"_ Arceus answered._"What happened and what does Discord mean 'you tried to vaporize him?'"_

"_That creature attacked me,"_ Zygarde answered, glaring at Discord, the chaos lord stuck his tongue out at the Order Pokémon. _"And in an attempt to stop him I fired pure order at him."_

Celestia's eyes went wide. "Pure order? Even the elements are enchanted to dilute harmony so that they only petrify Discord, otherwise," She looked guiltily to the Draconequus still hiding behind her. "It could dispel him."

Zygarde huffed and turned away. _"He would reform; chaosss alwaysss doesss."_

"Maybe in a thousand years!" Luna shouted. The three Alicorns glared at the Order Pokémon.

Arceus shook his head. _"Zygarde, you're in time out."_ His eyes flashed gold and a swirling portal of darkness opened beneath the Ground-Type.

"_Wait, I-"_ The portal closed as Zygarde fell through, leaving the Alicorns and Draconequus staring at Arceus, eyes wide and mouths gaping.

"W-where did you s-send him?" Twilight asked nervously.

"_Distortion World,"_ Arceus answered simply. _"My youngest son, Giratina; you met him yesterday, big dragon, golden spikes, flowing red and black wing type things? He rules that particular pocket dimension and whenever I need to I drop a troublesome being in there for a while."_ The ponies still looked horrified and Discord was silently hoping Celestia didn't get any ideas. _"Don't worry, it's pretty much empty and harbors nothing that would be a threat to any of the legendaries."_

Celestia took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Arceus," She said sternly. "We need to talk."

"_Yes,"_ He sighed, he had known this was coming. _"I suppose we do."_ He turned to look at the large crater behind him. _"But first…"_

Arceus pulled the Meadow Plate from his pocket dimension and switched to Grass-Type. He then concentrated his energy on the surrounding area. The ground began to bubble and it rose up wards, evenly filling the crater. Then, with the Meadow Plate in place, he caused the vegetation to grow until it was filled in with trees similar in both appearance and energy to those of the Eterna Forest of Sinnoh.

"_Now then,"_He turned back to Celestia. _"Shall we be off?"_

The moment he said that, a golden light invoked him and Princess Celestia, whisking the two away and leaving Luna, Twilight, and Discord staring in confusion as the light faded. Luna's ear twitched in annoyance. "Just Tia," she said through gritted teeth. "It's always just Tia."

"Come on, Lulu," Discord grabbed Luna, who was still staring at the spot her sister had been a moment before. "Let's get back to Canterlot."

"But we have to find Celestia!" Twilight shouted. "She could be in trouble, Arceus could be torturing her, or brainwashing her, or–" A flash of golden light left a piece of paper floating down and landing on Twilight's nose.

She grabbed it in her magic and looked it over.

_Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna, and Lord Discord,_

_(Especially Twilight)_

_Don't worry, I'm not going to harm Celestia, she and I just need to work a few things out. And Luna, I needed someone to make sure Canterlot didn't fall apart (Literally, that explosion was a fusion of chaotic and orderic energy, I'd check the foundation) I promise I'll have her back in a few hours at the most._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Lord Arceus._

Twilight looked over the letter, reread it, checked the back, then showed it to Discord and Luna.

Luna was still upset about being left out, but was glad she hadn't just been forgotten. Discord, under Twilight's request, tried, and failed, to backtrack the letter. In the end the Discord, still powered up from the chaos of the world and, thanks to Arceus, now fully healed, teleported himself and the two disgruntled alicorns back to Canterlot to wait for the princess's return.


	15. Chapter 13

Celestia blinked and surveyed her surroundings. She was confused for a second as she had just been standing with her sister, Twilight, and Discord, watching Arceus rebuild a portion of the Everfree only a moment ago, and now she was… she actually had no idea where she was.

The room was made of marble, like Canterlot Palace, but instead of smooth and white, it was light brown and paneled. There was a small table with no more than five seats surrounding it. Each seat was large enough for an Alicorn… or something a bit larger.

"_Welcome to the official Pokémon-Equus meeting hall."_ A now familiar voice spoke up from behind her.

Celestia spun around quickly to see Arceus standing behind her, his normal white coat was tinted a very light green and his underbelly was a darker shade, the normally golden ring around his body was also green and the gems were now yellow. The god either didn't notice or didn't care at the moment.

"What?" Celestia gawked, temporarily ignoring his new appearance.

"_I decided a more... neutral, meeting place was needed for when I meet with Equus officials."_ Arceus answered.

"You mean… besides me?" Celestia asked, both relieved and worried at the same time.

"_Yes, eventually."_ Arceus answered. _"While interesting, the Hall of Legends has always been a bit difficult for most to reach."_

This confused Celestia. "Didn't you bring it here?"

"_Yes, but it has a sort of... spirit of its very own."_Arceus had created the Hall of Legends as a physical focal point for the Hall of Origins, which was ethereal. He had even succeeded in connecting the two in such a way that they occupied the same space, but in different planes of existence.

Celestia decided to ignore Arceus' last statement and looked around the room. She noticed for the first time that there were two doors on adjacent sides of the room, one was a Canterlot palace door, white marble with golden hinges and locks. The other was a large stone door that was the same brown as the walls. It was intricately carved with complex designs, circles and branching lines which curved in every direction. In the center of each door was a red gem, ringed with gold and carved with designs just as intricate as the door.

Arceus noticed the objects of Celestia's interests and began to explain. _"As I said, a more neutral area,"_He walked over to the stone door and it swung open at his approach. Behind the door was a hallway with a large wall painting of Arceus himself, set on a field of gold, just beneath him were each of his sons, Dialga on the left set on a blue background, Giratina, in his Origin Form on a swirling field of red and black, Palkia, on the right was set in front of a field of pink. Each of their respective gems floated by their side, and in Arceus' case, his seventeen plates swirled around him.

"_This one leads to the Hall of Legends,"_He walked to the other side of the room, Celestia staring as the doors closed. As Arceus reached the other door it too swung open, this time revealing several pane glass windows that Celestia recognized, one showed six mares, each firing a purple ray at an pitch black Alicorn, another showed Celestia and Luna circling the petrified form of Discord. _"And this, as you can tell, leads straight to Canterlot Palace."_

Celestia gave into her curiosity. "And where is this room then? It can't be in both places at once." Celestia knew several ways to create a room like this, although the spells for them were taxing on even her.

Arceus shrugged. _"I suppose it's in a space all its own, and I'm sorry about the random door in your hallway, I can move it later if you wish."_

Celestia raised an eyebrow. Arceus had a different tone in his voice than he had when she had met him in the Everfree yesterday. "Is everything alright, Arceus?" Celestia asked, she decided to drop the "Lord" as Arceus' actions had upset her, yet she was still worried, mainly that something had gone wrong with the Pokémon, or the fabric of reality.

"_Um, well I..."_ Arceus shifted awkwardly._"I'm sorry."_

"Excuse me?" Celestia hadn't heard what the god had said.

"_I'm sorry."_He said a bit louder.

The edges of Celestia's mouth threatened to turn her frown into a smirk. "One more time?"

Arceus glared at her. _"I'm… sorry."_

Celestia finally lost control, she smirked wider than Discord had when he replaced Rarity's shampoo with green mane dye.

Arceus continued._"I realize that my actions have caused unnecessary complications for all parties involved, I am working on repairing the situation the best I can."_ Arceus had seen enough futures to realize that his own actions could lead to many tragedies for one group or the other.

Celestia's smile became genuine and she walked up to Arceus. "I'm glad you realized this yourself, but I can't let you return to Earth anymore." Celestia didn't care if she ruined her one shot to get rid of the Pokémon, her heart wouldn't let her send them back to that world, for more than one reason.

"_Oh, really?"_ Arceus said. _"And why is that?"_ Arceus knew exactly why, Mewtwo's origin was the worst of any legendaries, even Genesect hadn't been as mistreated as the Genetic Pokémon.

Celestia just glared at him. "You know why. Your ambassador?"

"_Ah, I suppose Mewtwo showed you his origin, didn't he?"_ Arceus said with a chuckle.

"You know he did." Celestia replied curtly.

Arceus nodded. _"Good."_ Arceus was glad that he didn't have to show her what Team Galactic had done, or Team Flare.

Celestia sighed and hung her head. "When you told me you did this to protect the Pokémon… I didn't think you meant something like that."

Arceus shook his head. _"I hate Team Rocket with a burning passion... although in terms of goals, they weren't even the worst."_

Celestia immediately snapped to attention, eyes wide with disbelief. "But, that man… he wanted to conquer the world. What else–? Actually, I don't believe I want to know." Celestia didn't need any more information. "But since you've reached the conclusion that staying here could be a problem-"

"_I can't leave."_Arceus suddenly spoke up.

"Come again?" Celestia couldn't believe what she had just heard.

"_I no longer have enough power to travel to another dimension."_ Arceus explained. _"I used more energy yesterday to get here than I have since I made Earth a habitable planet."_

Celestia's ear twitched in annoyance. "Well... you're kidding right?" She asked hopefully. "You said you're all powerful, there has to be something you can do."

Arceus sighed again. _"I said I was a god and proved it to you – I never said I was all powerful."_Arceus turned away from the princess and walked slowly around the room. _"To become truly omnipotent and all powerful, I would have to become what I was when I first hatched, all those eons ago,"_

"Wait, eons?"

"_To do that, I would have to reabsorb all energy that came directly from me. I would not only have to completely absorb the Elemental Plates,"_ He paused for a moment realizing something, and willed the Meadow Plate from his body, it floated in the air for a moment before disappearing into Arceus' pocket dimension as the now Normal-Type's color scheme returned to normal._"I would have to absorb all my children, as well as my precious granddaughter. My children are my power."_

The Alpha Pokémon turned to the Alicorn. _"I could never do something so horrendous."_

Arceus' voice was tinged with horror from the very thought of destroying his children. Celestia could practically feel the sadness emanating from the Pokémon, then realized sadness was _literally_ emanating from the Pokémon.

She walked over to him. "Arceus, you claim to know of this world so you should realize, I would never ask _anyone_ to do something like that, I would go out of my way to stop such a travesty."

Arceus shook his head. _"I know, it's just that for me my children are, and in quite a literal way, a part of who I am."_ Arceus had to hold back tears. _"They're more precious to me than anything."_

Celestia was silent for a moment. "It was for them, wasn't it?" Arceus turned to her. "For your children, and the legendaries, they're the reason for all of this." She gestured around the room to indicate the situation.

Arceus was silent for a moment._"They're my family; every one of them. The legendaries, I mean,"_Memories raced to Arceus. _"And they tried to use them for their own purposes."_

Thoughts of the different groups that had harmed his family danced in the god's mind, but one man stood out amongst the rest.

"_Lysandre."_ Arceus whispered.

"What was that?" Celestia asked, Arceus ignored her.

Arceus shook his head, clearing his mind of the possible futures he had seen during the Team Flare incident, those horrors were better left in the past, or possible past, as it may be.

"_Apologies, Princess,"_ Arceus said as he turned back to the Alicorn. _"My mind wandered for a moment, now where were we?"_

"You were talking about your family." Celestia reminded him.

"_Yes, I couldn't leave them to deal with the humans any longer, nor could I leave the other Pokémon, they suffered and, to some, were nothing more than animals and the means to an end."_

Celestia pursed her lips. She was finding it harder and harder to remain angry at him for what he did, she was still upset about how he had gone about achieving his goal but she understood why he had done it. The Princess sighed. "You said you had a plan?"

Arceus suppressed a grin. _"Soon I'm going to reveal my plan to the world, and explain everything all at once. Hopefully that will clear up a few things."_

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "What are you going to do?" She asked, fearful of the answer.

"_I'll make an announcement, perhaps call a meeting with the different leaders… although, I suppose you were already planning something like that, weren't you?"_

Celestia's expression morphed to one of annoyance. "Perhaps." She answered nonchalantly. She had hoped to keep the plan for such a meeting away from Arceus until the last moment, in hopes of keeping the god himself from attending.

Arceus decided not to unnerve the Princess any more than he sensed he had. _"No matter, we shall cross that bridge when we come to it. In the mean time I know you have some questions that you would like to ask regarding the Pokémon."_

Celestia nodded.

"_Well then,"_Arceus walked over to the meeting table and sat in the chair directly in front of the door leading to the Hall of Legends. _"Shall we begin?"_

Celestia smiled and took the seat opposite of Arceus, directly in front of the door leading to Canterlot Castle.

The pair sat in silence for a moment before Celestia asked her first question. "How do you know so much of Equus?" Arceus developed a puzzled expression and the Princess elaborated. "You know of the different countries, you know of my sister and I, as well as the Elements, how exactly did you learn these things?"

Arceus was silent for a moment before answering. _"I can read the sands of time,"_He began. _"As a god, I am able to view the past and the future in an instant and at the same time, I saw your history before I came here; it was a bit of… research, I suppose. And since then have continued to look across the world."_

This answer surprised Celestia. "Wait, doesn't that mean you can see the future?" Celestia wasn't a fan of the notion that the future was set in stone, that it could be read like a book and was unchangeable, although a friend of hers had assured her this was nowhere near true.

Arceus chuckled. _"In a way, I can view all possible futures but an exact reading will be accurate for, at most, an hour or so into the future, and even that is difficult, I need to take in all possible criteria to see how it will affect the outcome of certain events."_

Celestia nodded and thought for a moment, she remembered something Juniper had said at the last meeting. "What happened to you? I've been told you were imprisoned but… how is that possible?"

Arceus sighed and shook his head. _"The same way you imprisoned Discord. Planning, the correct beings, these being angered humans, and powerful artifacts, other than that I will not say for my own safety."_

Celestia hid her frown, she had hoped to gain insight into what could stop a being as powerful as Arceus in case she ever needed to.

Celestia decided to get off the subject with another question that had been bugging her. "The humans," She began. "I want you to explain what your plan was in bringing them here, and making the Pokémon."

Arceus thought for a moment, then sighed. _"They deserved it."_

Celestia looked at him quizzically as he continued.

"_Mew created the humans, just as she did the other Pokémon, everything is related back to her, even if some of the scientists won't believe it. And I wasn't going to leave those who had done nothing wrong on Earth, which, considering the type of humans left there, won't be a pretty sight very soon."_

Celestia shook her head.

"_Since I couldn't check every human on the planet to see if they were worthy, I used the memories of the council, all of whom had experience with humans, to decide what type of humans I would bring."_ Arceus smiled. _"Ones who took care of Pokémon, even ones who weren't their own, who treated them as their equals, ones like young Gene who found true love in their Pokémon companions. I knew some of them, probably most of them, would at first be upset, but given time I'm sure they'll adapt,"_He looked back up at the Princess._"They always do."_

"If you have so much faith in the ones you brought why did you even bother changing their form?" Despite having been given an answer yesterday, being alone with Arceus meant his answer would likely be more in depth.

"_I didn't want history to repeat itself,"_ He explained._"After enough time, the descendants of the ones I chose might again begin to see Pokémon as tools, and perhaps the ponies as well."_

Celestia's eyes went wide as the Alpha Pokémon continued.

"_But in making them Pokémon I ensured that humans will never again see Pokémon as subordinates, because their children will never even be human."_ Arceus smiled. _"Given enough time, humanity will fade into the mists of history… just as I nearly did."_

"That seems a bit… extreme," Celestia replied. "With you back in power, couldn't you keep the humans in line? I mean, making their descendants forget about what they could have been? That's almost cruel."

Arceus sighed. _"You realize that, even here in Equestria, their stupid idea of racial purity would have condemned people and Pokémon like Gene and Belle, or even ones who fell in love with your ponies. At the very least they would be shunned, and at the worst, hunted as they were back on Earth."_

Celestia's ears drooped. That was actually depressing to hear. "I'll need to have my niece talk with the former humans when next we meet." She commented

"_Mind if I borrow her later on?"_ Arceus asked. _"I have a few legendaries who could use some advice."_

Celestia eyed him curiously for a moment, then shrugged and began to think. That's the humans, his knowledge, and his imprisonment. What else? Celestia smiled as she developed an idea.

"Arceus, since it is obvious that you are going to be here for the foreseeable future."

"_I won't be back to full power for at least a few decades at which point ponies and Pokémon will have accepted each other, one way or the other." _

_Or they'll try to kill each other and I'll have terraformed and moved the Pokémon to the moon. Either way._ While Arceus truthfully was no longer able to jump through dimensions with millions of beings he did still have enough power to move them to another planet, so long as it was in a nearby solar system, but Arceus still believed the ponies and Pokémon could positively influence each other and since Celestia hadn't asked he wasn't telling.

Celestia took a deep breath and continued. "I feel it would be... helpful if we got to know each other, so please." She nodded towards him.

Arceus was silent for a moment. _"Where do I even begin,"_ He wondered aloud. _"I've been around longer than the universe itself, when I was young I shaped planets and stars, galaxies bent to my will and even a black holes were my play things."_He closed his eyes as he tried to remember anything specific from back then. _"Time itself wasn't even there before me, and it had no hold on me. I skated through time like a foal on an ice rink."_

Arceus' eyes opened suddenly, a light golden glow filling them. _"I visited other dimensions and saw wonders upon wonders, I met beings as powerful as myself and yet,"_ He looked away. _"I was restless, the other gods had families, worshippers, and worlds filled with life, none of them had time for a free roaming god whose homeworld was empty space."_

Celestia listened intently as Arceus told her his tale. _"I was always drawn back to the universe I created and, finding no companionship in the other worlds, I decided to create my own, but I had little knowledge in making life so, in my ignorance, I split a part of my power and the energy of time to create a being in my own image."_

Arceus smiled. _"As soon as I had split my power I suddenly felt more... I suppose the word would be 'alive'. Having lessened my hold on the force of time I began to see things clearly, and I wanted more, I wanted to be able to see what the other gods saw, so I split my power over space, then antimatter."_A tear rolled down the god's cheek. _"It was then, having disconnected from the three forces that control the universe that I realized just how empty my former life had been, a wandering god with no one who truly cared for him, and no one to care for, then I saw the beings I had shaped, nay, birthed. And I wept with joy as I embraced the newborns, my sons, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina."_

More tears slid down the god's face as he recalled the first thing that could truly count as a memory, anything before being a hazy remembrance that was more akin to a dream.

"_I taught them to control their powers, and taught them things I had formerly been ignorant of, compassion, kindness, love… hmm, odd how much that has in common with your students story, isn't it?"_

Celestia smiled. "I suppose so." She said quietly.

Arceus returned to his story. _"As time passed I decided to try my hoof at making life, I created Earth, the sun, and the moon, plants and water were easy enough but my attempts at complex life were lack luster. After much contemplation I decided to create another child and gift unto them an imagination unlike any other, as well as my command over genetic manipulation; that was the day I birthed Mew, my first daughter."_Arceus remembered that day fondly, he had been so worried about raising a daughter that he almost missed when she created a tiny purple blob, at first Arceus thought the creature was a fluke, until its shape became more solid and the face appeared.

Arceus couldn't have been prouder, not even a day old and Mew was already creating life. The 'Ditto' as Mew named them, weren't the most creative creatures, the New Species Pokémon had literally just copied her transformative power and given it a form, but Arceus cared for them all the same.

"_Mew was so sweet and innocent when she was young... ok, she's still sweet and innocent but she wasn't as mischievous back then, actually she was but... heh, heh, she really hasn't changed that much at all."_

Arceus shook his head, clearing his thoughts._"She created her first Pokémon, Ditto, only a few hours after her birth, within a year, there were dozens of Pokémon species on the planet. I then created, but didn't birth, Regigigas, Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre to shape the planet itself."_

Arceus developed a small frown. _"They did a good enough job, until Groudon and Kyogre caused a mass extinction event."_

Celestia's eyes went wide. "Who did what now?" She was now worried about an entirely different group of legendaries.

"_One represents land, one represents sea. They caused tidal waves and volcanic eruptions all over the planet, that got them stuck in the Distortion World for a few weeks."_

Arceus sighed. _"Everything worked out in the end, even the species that went extinct ended up being resurrected several thousand years later."_

It was then Celestia realized something. "Arceus?"

"_Mew then created hundreds of new species of Pokémon, including humans, to fill the world."_

"Arceus?"

"_I tried to improve humans by birthing Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf, the Psychic guardians, to reshape their minds, this worked but eventually it lead to them segmenting away from the other Pokémon. And eventually to them imprisoning my sons, Regigigas, his sons, Jirachi, and myself."_

"Arceus!" Celestia shouted.

The god looked to the Princess in confusion. _"Yes?"_

Celestia cleared her throat. "That is all extremely, extremely, interesting, and raises many questions, but I asked about you, not your children and the world you helped build, but you, Arceus, as a… Pokémon, as it may be."

Arceus blinked. _"Well... what do you want to know?"_ No one had really ever asked about Arceus himself, his family knew him and even when they worshipped him, the humans were too scared to hold much of a conversation, and Arceus no longer went hopping through dimensions as he once had.

"Well," Celestia began. "Just tell me something about yourself that doesn't relate to your children, a hobby, something you like; anything really." Celestia had become an expert in dealing with international affairs through just talking to others like this, and she hoped it would hold against a god.

Arceus thought on this for a moment Having been imprisoned for a thousand years meant Arceus had not had time to become interested in anything; he hadn't had a hobby since he took up world crafting, and that was full time job – even trivial information escaped him. Since he had no mouth didn't eat, and therefore had no favorite food. He did, however, have a favorite color. _This is sad,_ Arceus decided. _I'll talk to some of the others and see about taking up a hobby. Perhaps I can learn to play some form of instrument._

Arceus decided to just tell Celestia of his predicament, and maybe his favorite color. _"Well, you see, I-"_

He was interrupted when the door leading to Canterlot Castle creaked open and a pink Earth Pony stuck her head in. Pinkie Pie was silent for a moment then said, in a very upset and urgent voice, "This isn't a bathroom!" before rushing out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Arceus and Celestia looked at each other, and this time Arceus had a question to ask. It was really very simple, but at the same time, infinitely complicated. _"What's with her anyway?"_

* * *

Discord stood in his room, planning… and those are words that should never go together.

After Discord, Twilight and Luna had returned to the castle, Luna had gone to take care of whatever royal business had come up in their absence and Twilight had gone to find her friends. This left Discord alone and without any sort of chastising for his actions in the Everfree, and this somehow meant, to the chaos lord, that he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Hmmm," Discord scratched his chin, looking over a blackboard. "Yes, yes, quite possible," The door to Discord's balcony was wide open, allowing the excess chaos to flow into the Draconequus. He had already surpassed his normal power levels and they were still rising.

Discord snapped his fingers and a small red and white orb appeared in his talons, he rolled over the smooth surface as he considered it. "Nah!" He tossed the orb and it landed with a clatter as it hit the ground. "That would be way too obvious."

Discord was trying to figure out how to defeat Zygarde the next time he encountered the Order Pokémon, and he knew they would meet again. Discord figured that he didn't have long before Celestia or Luna figured out what the inhibitor was doing to him and then his only hope would be to stuff Bio Chem in a closet... again, and hope the sisters wouldn't try to remove it without him.

Discord swiped away the blackboard, but the board itself, the lines and words on it remained in the air, and began pacing. "I'm not thinking big enough here." He told himself.

"Zygarde came from a whole other world, so maybe…" He paused as he considered his plan. "Maybe I can use my boosted powers and the multiverse thingy to my advantage!"

Discord poked the fabric of reality, it felt like an odd blend of satin and peanut butter. And it was weak. "I could open a window into a new world, but that could rip apart the already unstable fabric of the universe. Hmm, hard to choose."

Discord quickly decided to take the risk, and used his powers to poke a tiny hole in the fabric of space time, just a peep hole really. Discord looked through the hole and saw a swarming mass of green tentacles surrounding one red eye in the vastness of spa- Discord shut the portal quickly.

"Ew." He said. "Let's try another."

This time he made the hole a bit bigger, and this time was greeted with the sight of a colossal lizard rampaging through a city much like Manehattan. "Tempting, but we have enough dragons." Discord hit the portal and it spun like a coin on its side coming to a stop on a new world. Discord peered into a silver room filled with beings wearing red and yellow shirts. A bald, ape-like creature sat in a chair in the center. "Captain's log stardate-" Discord snapped the portal closed as someone knocked at his door.

"Discord?" Fluttershy's voice came from outside, there was worry in her voice. "Are you in there?" Discord smiled, then looked around his room and sighed.

"I'll get back to you later." He snapped his fingers and his room returned to normal. His cotton candy cloud bed in one corner, his chocolate milk fountain in another, his thinking tree in the center... a picture of him and Fluttershy on his nightstand.

He opened his door and smiled down at the little Pegasus. "Well, hello Fluttershy," He said with a grin. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

I just wanted to come by and make sure you were alright," Fluttershy said softly. "I heard you got in a fight with one of the Pokémon and I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Oh, I'm fine," He replied. "All healed up now and just doing some… thinking."

"Oh, um, alright, if you wanna be alone I can always-"

"Now, now my dear," Discord scooped up the little mare and carried her into his room before putting her back down. "You know I always have time for my dearest friend Fluttershy."

Fluttershy smiled as Discord turned back to close the window, having absorbed enough power for a while, but as he did this, she noticed something next to his nightstand. She walked over to it as Discord shut the door.

"So anything in particular you'd like to talk about?" He asked. "Pokémon, gods, what time we're having tea next Sunday?"

"D-Discord?" Fluttershy stammered, disbelief and fear in her voice.

The chaos lord turned to see his friend holding a red and white orb with a small white button in the center. "What's this doing here?"


	16. Chapter 14

There were very few things that Princess Luna hated. Ponies who thought her Night Guards were vampires? Pity. The technological advancements made in her absence? Interested. Night clubs? LOVE! Prince Blueblood... alright, him, she hated. But Luna begrudgingly accepted the tedious political dealings that came with running a country.

What Luna had never thought would happen was that she would actually be interested in a disaster report that came from somewhere other than Ponyville.

"...And Trottingham is reporting heavy damage done by what they described as a "Steel plated Dragon" And that the attack could have been a lot worse had the monster not been stopped by a, and I'm quoting this. "Six foot tall fire breathing bird and a bipedal fox in a dress with a wand that also shot fire." Both of which are currently in town hall, trying to communicate with the mayor."

The stallion reading the report looked up at the Lunar Princess, worried that she might think he had gone insane.

Luna just nodded. Normally she might have thought the pegasus had indeed lost his mind, or that Discord had visited Trottingham, but today was different, and judging by how things were going, they might remain different indefinitely. Luna wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

"Continue." She said, looking at the Swablu perched on her shoulder and considering the Pokémon.

The stallion gulped. "Umm, the lightning factory in Cloudsdale, is reporting mechanical difficulties in the machines used to create electricity and charge the clouds; the scientists say there's something producing an electromagnetic field around the building and is draining the energy but have been unable to figure out what's causing it."

Luna considered sending Bio Chem to check this one out, the stallion was surprisingly adept at dealing with technology of all kinds, plus Luna was beginning to worry he would do something rash if left to study the Pokémon by himself.

"Manehattan has sent reports of several Sea Serpent type creatures that have appeared in the bay and attacked a few boats, no real damage though, as well as a flock of steel birds that are attempting to make a nest in the statue of Neighberty."

_If these kind of problems are normal in the Pokémon world_, Luna thought to herself. _Then I wonder how the humans ever got past huts and covered wagons_. Indeed Luna was confused as to how a species with no powers themselves came to be dominant on a planet with beings of greater power, all of which had some kind of magical abilities, and in some cases, greater intelligence.

The stallion, ignorant to the Princess' thoughts, continued down the list. "Appeloosa has been experiencing an abnormally severe sand storm and the locals claim some kinda Dra-"

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

The messenger was interrupted when a white unicorn stallion with a blond mane ran into the room, shoving the doors open.

"KILL IT! KILL IT! SEND IT TO THE MOON! AUNTY!" Blueblood cried as the "stallion" saw Luna sitting at the throne. Before Luna could even ask what was going on, the Houndoom from earlier. _Fang_Luna thought he was called, rushed into the room, growling, his eyes locked on Blueblood.

"Grrrr…" The Pokémon growled as he ran after the Prince, closing the distance rather quickly and knocking him to the ground.

"Ahh!" Blueblood screamed as Fang stared down at the Unicorn with hatred in his eyes, and was then blasted with energy from his horn.

Fang yelped and flew halfway across the room but landed on his feet, he silently thanked Arceus for his immunity to Psychic-types before running after Blueblood once more. The unicorn's blasts still hurt, but nowhere near as much as they should have.

As Luna watched the scenario before her unfold, she sighed. "We will continue this later." She nodded to the messenger, and he saluted and quickly left the room.

Luna turned to Blueblood, who was now hiding behind the throne, then looked to Fang, who looked to pounce but was hesitant because of his proximity to Luna.

"Would someone please explain to me what is going on here?" Luna asked aloud.

Blueblood looked at Luna like she'd gone crazy. "Aunty, one of those… monsters got into the castle!"

Luna winced when Blueblood called her "Aunty"; she had no idea if she was actually related to him, but she would sooner announce to Equestria that Discord was her uncle, not that he was, but the point still stood.

"Blueblood," Luna began. "What have you been up to for the past two days?" She was now officially worried that her "nephew" had caused an international incident… again.

"Well, after that dreadful explosion yesterday, I sequestered myself in the safety of my abode," Luna counted how many of the words Blueblood used could be easily replaced, so far she was at three, it always helped her pass the time when she had to talk with him. "Then I learned about these disgusting monsters that have infested the city."

"Grrrr..."

"Swa?"

"And when I raced here to acquire some guards to... take care of them, I found that beast!" He pointed to Fang, who cocked his head. "It was wandering the halls, so I did the only thing I could."

"And what, pray tell, was that?" Luna asked.

Blueblood blinked once, then smiled. He lit up his horn and fired a magic blast at Fang. Unfortunately for him, the canine saw the blast coming and leapt out of the way, landing and barking angrily at the prince.

Luna gaped at what she had just seen, then turned to Blueblood, that cocky smile of his still on his face. "Now, where is Aunty Celestia, as I said I wish to acquire some guards to – ahhh!"

Blueblood was suddenly surrounded by a dark blue aura and throw to the front of the throne, he landed in front of Luna, who stared down at him. Fang smiled as he saw his target clear of the nice pony and licked his chops.

"One moment, Fang." Luna said to the Pokémon as he prepared to pounce. Fang whined but sat obediently and waited, Gene had told him he should listen to the ponies from the meeting, but only those ponies.

Luna turned back to Blueblood, who was brushing himself off indignantly. "Aunty! What has–?"

"Quiet, you pompous little ingrate." Luna snapped. "And stop calling me Aunty." Blueblood stood there, mouth agape, as Luna continued. "I don't care what my sister says, if this is how you are going to act then I will not tolerate any relations between the two of us." Luna took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Now, I'm going to explain what is going on with these creatures," She gestured to Fang, who was still staring at Blueblood, almost hungrily at this point. "And you are going to listen."

Blueblood didn't speak, which Luna took as a good sign, and began to explain. "First off, these creatures are members of a race called Pokémon, and they are just as intelligent as a normal pony,"

_Which makes them about ten times smarter than you_. She thought to herself.

"And I am not going to allow you to start some of crusade to round them all up and do harmony knows what to them." Luna paused for a moment. "In fact, if I hear about any such thing and find that you are at all involved, I will personally throw you in the dungeon."

Blueblood took a step back, he couldn't believe that the Princess had just spoken to him like that. "But-but they're just animals!" Blueblood shouted. "That beast is nothing more than some kind of mangy mutt!"

Fang's head swiveled around to glare at the stallion. "Mutt." He growled, his mind jumping back to before Gene had found him. "Beast." His eyes lit with fire as he stood up and turned to the unicorn. "Houndooom!" He roared, simultaneously using the attack by the same name.

Blueblood's false bravado dropped and he felt the sudden urge to flee. He took off running, but Fang followed, snapping at his heels.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" Blueblood screamed as he ran around the room, somehow remaining ahead of the Fire-type. Fang was however, slowly gaining ground, but when Blueblood turned back he saw flames licking at the dog's maw, Fang lost some ground as Blueblood pushed himself harder than he ever had before.

Luna was considering what to do. _Assuming Fang is in fact carnivorous, this situation might clean itself up_. Luna wasn't actually going to let Fang kill Blueblood and eat him, she didn't wasn't the dog to eat anything so spoiled. Maybe she'd just let him bite the brat, teach him a lesson.

It was then that Gene and Belle entered the room. "Princess, have you seen Fang? I-"

Gene stopped when he saw his dog chasing Blueblood around the room like a frightened Pidgey. This was actually normal; Fang had a habit of chasing smaller Pokémon for fun. It had gotten him in trouble a few times, mostly when he tried it with something along the lines of a Teddiursa, but he had never actually hurt any Pokémon.

The thing that presented the problem were the flames coming from the canine's mouth.

"Fang!" Gene shouted sternly, causing the Dark Pokémon to stop and wince at his Trainer's – Former Trainer's – he thought glumly, tone of voice.

Gene had his arms crossed and had a no-joke expression on his face. "You stop chasing that stallion and get over here right now!"

Fang whined and slunk over to Gene's side. The Gallade looked at his Houndoom disapprovingly. "I'll talk to you later." He then turned to the unicorn Fang had been chasing and looked at him apologetically and was about to apologize for his Pokémon's actions when Blueblood interrupted him.

"My word, it can speak!" Blueblood said, astounded. "Just what manner of creature are they?" He turned to Luna, completely forgetting what had just occurred as his mind latched onto something new. Normally even Blueblood wouldn't be this stupid, but this time… this time he wanted something. Blueblood trotted up to the Psychic-Types and stopped in front of Belle, who was currently examining Fang's memories. "And what are you?" He said, flashing his teeth in a grin that had fooled many a mare.

Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for the female population of Equus, none of those mares had been high level telepaths that Belle was. Her eyes glowed blue as she turned to glare at the stallion, that cocky grin still on his face.

Remembering what Gene had told her, she decided not to turn the prince into a vegetable; instead, she dumped Fang's recent memories into Gene's head and waited.

It took about ten seconds for Gene to realize what Blueblood had intended to do, what he had done to Fang, and what his was thinking.

"Fang," He said calmly.

"Yes?"

Gene looked to the Houndoom. "Just don't burn him, ok?"

Fang was confused for a moment, then realized what he meant. He nodded in understanding, then arched his back, and glared at Blueblood once more.

Gene turned to Blueblood and gave him a devilish grin. "You have five seconds."

It took three seconds for Blueblood to get the message, and another one for him to turn and run, meaning that he was only a few feet away from Fang when he pounced. Houndooms have very strong legs.

Luna sighed as she watched Blueblood roll helplessly on the ground as Fang tried to pin him. She was about to stop the attack before it went too far when the door was again flung open, this time by Discord, who flew into the room crying.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Lulu!" Discord hid behind the throne. "Make her stop! I already apologized!"

Again, before Luna could ask what was wrong the answer came in the door, in the form of a pink maned, butter yellow pegasus, holding a small red and white sphere in her hoof. "Discord get over here, I'm not done yet!" As Fluttershy flew into the room Belle noticed what she was holding and froze. Her eyes went wide and she put a force field around herself and her mate.

"What is happening?" Luna asked, regarding the situation in general.

Discord shuttered from behind the throne and explained.

"IwastryingtothinkofnewwaystostopZygardeandImadeaPokéballbutIwasn'tgonnauseitIswearandnowFluttershyisreallyreallyreallymad."

Luna paused as she worked over what the chaos lord had just said, only being able to understand it thanks to spending time around Pinkie Pie, then turned to Fluttershy. "You have merely been berating him to the point of a breakdown, yes?"

"Oh of course, Your Highness, I would never actually hurt anyone." Fluttershy said with a smile.

Luna nodded. "In that case." She teleported Discord in front of Fluttershy, then watched as a berating so powerful commenced she considered using Fluttershy against Arceus.

It in itself was amusing, but after a while Discord began running again, and Prince Blueblood and Fang were still fighting… if a Houndoom scaring the living daylights out of a unicorn who knew one attack spell could be considered fighting. Gene and Belle were still within their protective bubble, watching Fluttershy closely.

Luna sighed and turned to Swablu. "I suggest you cover your ears, little one." Swablu darted into Luna's mane again. Luna then cleared her throat.

"_**SILENCE!"**_

She shouted in the Royal Canterlot Voice. Everyone stopped moving and looked at her. "Thank you,"

She began to address the problems. "Fluttershy, I believe that Discord has had enough..." She looked to Gene and Belle. "And as for this abomination," She lifted the Pokéball off the ground and placed it at the foot of the throne. She then got up, walked down the steps, and stomped on it, luckily she had placed it so the capture button was pointing down, the device shattered under the Alicorn's strength, fragments surrounding the button, then she stomped again, and again, and again, until naught but dust remained. Well, dust and a very damaged capture button.

"I believe that takes care of that, now Gene, while I find your logic for sicking Fang on Prince Blueblood sound, I believe it is time to call him off."

Gene sighed and nodded despite his instincts telling him that Blueblood deserved much worse. "Come here, Fang," He called, patting the side of his leg. "Come on, boy."

Fang lopped over to Gene, a devious grin on his muzzle.

Luna surveyed the now quiet throne room. "Now then, I believe-" Luna was once again interrupted when the doors again swung open and a guard came in, panting heavily.

"A thousand apologies, your highness, but Princess Celestia is back, along with some odd being, and they are currently on their way to the meeting room, she asked we gather-"

He couldn't continue, as the Lunar Princess, chaos lord, former Element of Kindness, Houndoom, Gardevoir, and Gallade, all ran past him. He paused for a moment, then went to find the rest of the beings the guards were searching for.

He did not realize he had left Prince Blueblood alone in the throne room. Blueblood just stood there for a moment. Then he looked to the throne. "Hmm," Blueblood walked over to the shattered remains of the Pokéball, examining the button. "I may know somepony who can salvage this."

* * *

Blueblood trotted down a familiar hallway of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and up to a set of doors that were closed, but various sounds of griping and shouting could be heard from inside.

Blueblood gulped, he was always careful around Bio Chem, not for any reason in particular, he was just a slightly unstable stallion.

"H-hello?" He called as he entered the room.

"DUCK!"

Blueblood looked toward the shout and was struck by something blue and purple that cried. "ZZZZZZ!" Before rushing out the door.

"Damn it!" Bio Chem shouted, watching as the creature disappeared. "These things just don't like me."

"Ohhh..."

Bio Chem turned to the prince. "Oh, right, 'ello Blueblood."

The prince stood up and brushed himself off. "Do I even want to know?" He asked irritably.

Bio Chem tapped his chin, thinking. "Knowing you? Probably not." The geneticist trotted over to one of his machines. "So Blueblood, to what do I owe this… vexation?" He said, knowing Blueblood wouldn't understand the word.

The Prince ignored him and pulled the cracked capture button from his suits pocket. "I… found this object and I believe it is related to those creatures that have been appearing, b-"

"Eee!" Bio Chem squealed and snatched the button from Blueblood before plugging it into one of his sensors. "Goody, goody, the princesses won't let me experiment on the Pokémon." He read some lines on a screen and smiled. "Oh, genetically coded laser device."

He grabbed the device and placed it in another device. "Let's see, amp up the power, override genetic lock keys, reroute from damaged circuits and..."

_Zap!_

A red laser shot from the machine, and right towards Prince Blueblood, Bio Chem watched in horror as the laser hit the unicorn, and he spasmed as if he were being shot with electricity.

"Gahahahahaha!" Then the capture button, broken beyond repair, began to short circuit. Then exploded in a "spectacular blast of scientific light!" As Bio Chem would explain it to the head of the school when the explosion was investigated.

Once the smoke cleared a soot covered geneticist and an extra crispy prince sat up and surveyed the damage, well, Bio Chem got up, Blueblood was unconscious.

After a moment Bio Chem winced and turned to Blueblood. "Umm... I think I broke it."

Blueblood twitched in his sleep, this was why Bio Chem was an "Unstable stallion."

* * *

Twilight Sparkle shifted nervously in her seat, and she had a very good reason, actually several.

First she and Professor Juniper had been yanked from the library by a castle guard telling her Celestia was back, then halfway to the meeting hall something had exploded over in her old school, and finally she had arrived to find that Princess Celestia had returned, along with Lord Arceus. Luna, Discord and all her friends, along with Gene, Belle, Korrina, Lucario, Misty, Fang, and, to her surprise and alarm, Mewtwo, also sat in the room.

In short, Twilight Sparkle had a lot of reasons to be stressed. "Uh, don't worry Twi," Spike said from her side. "I'm sure everything's gonna be just fine." The little dragon thoroughly wished he could believe that.

Arceus and Celestia sat on opposite ends of the table, with Luna, Discord and Twilight sitting on either side of the Solar Princess while Mewtwo sat at Arceus' side. Spike was sitting next to Twilight and the other ponies and Pokémon were on either side of the table, every one of them looking rather nervous.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then another minute ticked by, and another, at this point everyone was beginning to wonder just what was going on. Arceus and Princess Celestia, however, had no idea why they hadn't thought up a better plan.

"_Um, Discord?"_ Arceus began, breaking the silence. _"I would like to formally apologize to you for what occurred in the Everfree, I promise I'll sort something out with Zygarde."_

The Draconequus smiled. "Oh, don't trouble yourself," He grinned deviously. "I have a plan."

_That's what I was afraid of._ Arceus thought to himself. _"No matter, now on to business. As some of you may already be aware, Princess Celestia and I have recently had an impromptu meeting to discuss matters involving the Pokémon... and the former humans."_

Korrina smiled. She knew the princess would come through for her, now she could go home, and run her Gym and-

"After Arceus and Mewtwo shared information with me about Earth, I decided that I could not in good conscious force the Pokémon back there."

"What?" Korrina deadpanned.

Celestia frowned. "I realize that this comes as a disappointment to some of you but," She choked. "I'm sorry, but I will not allow innocent beings to be mistreated and discriminated against due to their species, especially one that are sapient."

Luna, Twilight, the other ponies and Spike all stared at Celestia. Not because they outright disagreed with her, but because they were surprised that she had gone from wanting the Pokémon gone to not letting them leave.

Pokémon's reactions were mixed. Korrina looked like she was about to explode, and Misty wasn't faring any better. Lucario was half upset, because he wanted Korrina to be happy, and half excited, because... he looked at Korrina, slumping in her chair now. But quickly looked away. _It's never going to happen_, He told himself. _She's not interested in Pokémon._

_Well, her only alternative here is a pony._ Another part of him argued. _And she knows you better than anyone we've met in this world so far, even if some of the others from Kalos are here_. He referred to the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, Diantha, and a few others.

Gene and Belle's reaction was expected. Gene leaned in and kissed his mate lovingly, Belle smiled and thought of the future, including what Gene had done back in their room. Fang smiled and wagged his tail.

Professor Juniper was the most conflicted. She was happy for Gene and Belle, but missed her home. She was glad she had met Twilight, but worried for her friends back in Unova, granted, many of them had probably been dragged along as well. She terribly missed her old body but she was excited because she was now a Psychic-type.

Mewtwo just smirked.

Suddenly something clicked in Korrina's mind. "Well, can you at least make us human again? Just cause we're stuck here doesn't mean we have to be Pokémon."

"Yeah," Misty said in agreement. "As much as I love Water-types, I preferred having hands."

Luna looked to Gene, he held one hand on Belle's arm soothingly and was staring into her eyes. The Gardevoir was either holding back tears at this point or a psychic attack, possibly both.

Arceus shook his head. _"I will not be changing anyone's genetic structure again. And besides,"_ He looked to Gene and smiled. _"Not everyone is entirely displeased with this change."_

Korrina was now utterly and completely pissed, not only was she stuck Arceus knew how far from home, but now that little, that little… pervert had ruined her chances of being human again. She wanted to scream, but she didn't. Partially because she wasn't going to make a fool of herself in front of three princess and two legendaries, partially because she was saving it all for its intended target, but mostly because a sense of calm emanated through her body. She quickly realized that Lucario was using his aura power to keep her from doing anything stupid. It wasn't the first time he had done this.

"T-thank you." She whispered silently to him. Lucario smiled.

Arceus spoke again. _"Now, I have come to the realization that the way in which I performed my actions was, for lack of a better word, inexcusable. I do plan to right them with time, but for now I believe it would be good for any who wishes to speak, about anything regarding the recent events, to come forth,"_

No one spoke for a moment, then to the surprise of all, Fluttershy spoke up. "Um,' I'd like to say something, if that's alright."

"_But of course, miss Fluttershy."_ Arceus said with a nod.

"Thank you, um, I know you're really smart and powerful and I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, it's just... with all the Pokémon here, what about the animals native to Equestria? I mean, a lot of them probably share the same ecological niche, or maybe they don't, I didn't mean to say anything offensive, I'm just worried about my animal friends."

Arceus' eyes widened. He hadn't really thought this one our very much, theoretically given enough time the Pokémon would outcompete most of the native wildlife, save for some of the creatures from the Everfree, but he couldn't tell the ponies he was causing a mass extinction event via invasive species, the princess' would get mad.

_For the love of the universe, please let something cause a distraction_, Arceus prayed. Nothing happened. _"Well, miss Fluttershy,"_ Arceus finally began. _"Equus and Earth are very similar geographically, the Pokémon and your animals evolved to better suit environments found on both planets."_ He tried to think of a way to word the next part, failing he went with a partial truth. _"I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I'll look into it."_ Arceus hadn't actually examined this aspect of the future yet, so he wasn't being completely false.

Fluttershy sighed, but accepted the answer.

"Oh, oh, pick me, pick me!" Pinkie Pie unnecessarily waved her hoof in the air.

"_Yes, miss Pie?"_ Arceus asked with a smile.

"Do you like parties?"

Arceus thought for a moment, he hadn't been to a party since… what was it? He thought Mew had thrown a party for when he created Jirachi, the last legendary made before he was imprisoned.

"_It has been a very long time since I last attended any kind of party, a very long time."_ Arceus answered.

Pinkie Pie gasped. "That is terrible, everybody–! NO, wait!" She tapped her chin and smiled. "That. Is. Perfect!" She jumped in the air and somehow hovered there as she explained. "I can throw you a 'Congrats on Getting out of an Inter-Dimensional Prison" party, and a. 'Welcome to Equus' Party for you, and you, and you, and you, and… all the Pokémon!" Pinkie was beginning to vibrate. Her excitement was reaching critical mass. Readers, please duck.

"And I can throw you two," she pointed to Belle and Gene. "An engagement party, or whatever Pokémon call it. And a big 'Welcome to Ponyville', party extravaganza for all the Pokémon living around Ponyville. This is gonna be so AWESOME!" Pinkie Pie exploded in a burst of confetti, causing the Pokémon present to recoil, yelp, and in Korrina's case, topple backwards.

"Oh, sweet Arceus!" Misty cried, ignoring the fact that she had invoked someone in the room. "She just-"

Pinkie Pie suddenly popped up in her chair, a very confused looking Rotom jumping out of her mane. "Sorry for doing this, but I gotta go!" Pinkie excused herself. "I have some serious party planning to do! Come on, Zap!"

Zap grinned and bolted after Pinkie, actually turning into a bolt of electricity as he shot out of the room.

Discord turned to Celestia. "Can I-?"

"No!" She answered sternly, causing the chaos lord to slump in his seat and pout.

Arceus turned to Mewtwo. _"Mewtwo?"_ He said calmly.

"_Yes my lord?"_ The Genetic Pokémon answered.

"_Make a note: Keep Pinkamena Diane Pie as far from Mew, and Hoopa, as physically possible at all times."_ Arceus was no longer calm.

Again he turned to Celestia and asked the one question everyone continually asked themselves when they knew Pinkie. _"Seriously, what is with her?"_

This time, Twilight answered. "I tried to figure that out once. I broke nearly every bone in my body."

Arceus winced. _"Ok, moving on. Any more questions?"_

Korrina grunted and set her chair back up, but on one spoke.

"_In that case,"_ Arceus rose from the ground, his entire body surrounded by a golden aura. _"I have an announcement to make."_

He disappeared in a flash of golden light, leaving everyone wondering the same thing.

"Sister," Luna spoke up. "What does he mean?"

They didn't have to wait long for an answer as not a second later a voice resonated throughout the city, and the world.

_"Attention citizens of Equus, both old and new."_


	17. Chapter 15

_Greetings citizens of Equus, both old and new."_ Arceus' voice echoed through the mind of every being on the planet. The Alpha Pokémon, after leaving the meeting, had not only activated the Mind Plate to boost his power, he had also contacted his daughters. Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit had been alerted to their fathers plan before the meeting and had been waiting in the Hall of Legends when their father told them it was time.

Before splitting his psychic powers amongst his daughters he would have been able to do it himself but after birthing the triplets his psychic power had dropped immensely, at this point, he was fairly certain Mewtwo was more powerful, at least psychically.

While Arceus was bonded with the girls the three of them were able to communicate with him, almost instantly, as it was.

"_Dad?"_ Mesprit asked. _"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean this seems..."_

"_Poorly thought out?"_ Uxie supplied.

"_Yeah, I thought the idea was to not cause panic."_

"_Shhh, I wanna see where this leads."_ Azelf said.

Arceus ignored his daughters, although Mesprit did have a good point, he figured that by informing the Pokémon and natives of Equus of the situation he would be able to prevent at least a few disasters, and the Pokémon would be less likely to attack ponies if their god said something, plus having a near omnipotent being tell them not to harm the Pokémon might dissuade some of the more nefarious Ponies, Griffins and various other assorted etcetera's.

"_I am Lord Arceus, creator of the Pokémon realm."_ Arceus noted that a lot of beings were panicking, or in the case of some Pokémon and former humans, groveling. _"You have no reason to fear me, I come in peace."_

"_That sounded like something from one of those movies the humans make. You know, where an army of Deoxys invade and take over."_ Mesprit added, fortunately only her sisters and father could hear her.

"_I have revealed myself to inform you that I am the one responsible for the Pokémon's presence in this world, for the citizens of Equus, the Pokémon are the beings who have appeared over the past few days."_

Arceus could feel the panic ebbing away, replaced with curiosity. _"I have my reasons for bringing them here, and to the leaders I will reveal them in time, but for now a warning, the Pokémon, while some may not seem it, are just as intelligent as any race who calls Equus home, and, seeing as how they are my subjects, I will not tolerate them being treated any differently than you would treat your fellow Pony, Griffin, Minotaur, Diamond Dog, Changeling, Deer, Hippocampi, Zebra, Horse, Buffalo, Cow, Donkey, or Dragon depending on whichever race you belong to."_

Arceus paused as he let that sink in. _"To my Pokémon, I say this, I brought you, all of you, here so that you could live in peace, do not seek to harm the natives of this world, for I am the one responsible for your displacement. And to the Pokémon who went through changes when I brought you here I say this."_ Arceus smiled. _"You are the ones who proved themselves worthy, those who were fair, kind and good in the old world, consider this your reward. And to all of you, as sapients the laws of Equus, and the varying countries, now apply to you, and__**only**__the laws of Equus."_ He hoped he was getting his messages across.

"_That is all for now, but just to be clear, the Pokémon are not to be harmed simply out of spite, if you have a problem with what I've done, feel free to contact me, I currently reside in an ancient temple deep in the Everfree Forest, or a pocket dimension outside of the space time continuum, so if any of you wish to face the sheer power of a god, feel free to come by."_ Arceus smirked.

"_Goodbye for now, though I doubt this will be the last you hear of me, and peace to you all."_

Arceus stopped transmitting and deactivated his powers. _"Thanks for the help girls, I'll be back soon."_

"_K dad, see ya soon."_ Mesprit said.

"_Bye!"_ Azelf cried happily.

"_Be careful dad, we don't know how Celestia is going to react after this."_ Uxie added.

Arceus smiled. His youngest children were quite often the sweetest beings he had ever encountered. Especially Azelf, the youngest of the trio, although she took after her sister, Mew.

Arceus pulled his consciousness, which had been stretched across the planet so as to transmit his message, back together and he re-materialized outside the meeting room. _Wonder how this is gonna go._ Arceus wondered as he pushed the door open.

Celestia turned to look at him. "That was your plan!?" She asked.

"_It was the quickest way, and besides, I believe that I got my various points across."_

Celestia shook her head. "You realize that I'm going to have to deal with this don't you? The Everfree-"

"_Is technically listed as unclaimed territory ever since you denounced your claim on it after the events surrounding Nightmare Moon."_

"But I'm still going to have to deal with this." Celestia replied, unamused.

"Indeed," Luna added, slumping in her seat. "And you know the Griffins are going to be sticking their beaks into this from every angle."

"_Well how would you have gone about it then, send them a letter saying a god moved millions of beings here and that they all deserve to be treated as equals? No, I wasn't going to take any chances."_ Arceus was not about to let history repeat itself, he was the one who _made_ time and he was not going to allow it to control him.

"Well I for one think it was perfect." Discord smiled and leaned back. "Oh, and for the record, Canterlot is panicking." Discord snapped his fingers and a window opened in the center of the room. It showed Canterlot from an aerial view, various ponies were running around, screaming, and basically freaking out. Several Pokémon were standing around in a daze. Everyone turned to Arceus.

"_Should I try to placate them?"_ Arceus contemplated what to do.

"NO!" All the ponies shouted at once.

"I'll do it myself." Celestia answered, irritation in her voice. The solar princess marched out of the room, Twilight and Luna following her.

Arceus turned back to the rest of the ponies. Then he got an idea. _"Miss Rarity, I understand the majority of Canterlot is rather appreciative of the finer things, correct?"_

"Yes," Rarity answered. "Fashion, fine cuisine, art-"

"_That's all I needed to hear."_ Arceus disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the group behind.

Rainbow Dash looked into the window, then to Rarity. "Hey rares?"

"Yes Rainbow?" She sighed.

"Remember when you said that the Canterlot ponies wouldn't be panicking?"

Rarity's eyes went wide as she remembered. "Rainbow Da-"

"I told ya so!" Rainbow shouted. Rarity rolled her eyes.

Applejack sighed, then realized that Mewtwo was still in the room, sitting silently in his seat, arms crossed. "Uhh, you have any idea what he's plannin' this time?" She asked.

Mewtwo raised an eyebrow and looked at the mare. _"Lord Arceus' plans are beyond the comprehension of mortals, even the other legendaries-"_

"You have no idea, do ya?" Applejack interrupted.

Mewtwo stared wide eyed at the mare, not believing that she had said that to a legendary. He pushed away from the table and floated out the door.

"AJ?" Dash walked over to her friend. "I don't think you wanna make one of those guys angry."

"Mewtwo is the most powerful psychic on our home planet." Belle added. "That may have a poor idea."

Applejack shrugged. "Ah didn't mean anything by it, an' 'sides, if'n that hurt his feelin's he has somethin' of an ego on him."

Gene sighed and got up from the table. "Well I think I'm gonna-"

"Actually dear I'd like to have a word with you about something Pinkie said." Rarity interrupted.

Gene had a pretty good idea what it was and sat back down next to Belle.

"Now when Pinkie Pie was going on about her parties-"

"Yeah about that," Misty jumped onto the table and sat down in the center. "I know that Twilight said we shouldn't ask, but does she, I mean is she, was that... she exploded."

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Pinkie Pie's kinda obsessed with parties, I'm actually surprised she didn't go off like that sooner."

"Speaking of going off," Discord snapped his fingers and appeared in the doorway wearing an orange construction vest, a hard hat, and a utility belt. "I'm going to go find Pinkie and help her," He smiled. "I do believe that this could quickly become the biggest party ever! Ta, ta Fluttershy!" He disappeared in a flash of light.

"Oh, uh..." Fluttershy bit her lip. "This could be bad."

"Anyway," Rarity continued. "Pinkie Pie said she was going to throw you an engagement party, I thought you two were married."

Gene looked away. "We're mates," He explained. "But we're not actually married yet."

Belle continued. "Not all Pokémon have a specific ceremony that's necessary, although after they become mates most Psychic-Type's go through a bonding ceremony but,"

"But both partners have to be Pokémon for it to work." Gene finished. "And we couldn't have a normal wedding, you know, vows, legally binding, big show of love that ends in a kiss, because as I said, Belle and my relationship was considered illegal."

"Ahh," Rarity pursed her lips. "Right, sorry."

He sighed. "Don't apologize, besides, even if we did have a wedding," He clenched his fist.

"Gene..." Belle placed a hand on her mates shoulder, then turned to the ponies. "We did try to plan a wedding once but we had some complications when we tried to invite others."

"Ohhh," Juniper said, realizing what they were talking about. "I remember, Cynthia was going to officiate."

Korrina and Misty's eyes went wide. "You don't mean the champion Cynthia from Sinnoh, right?" The Cerulean gym leader asked in disbelief.

Belle nodded. "We met her in Undella Town, she was one of the ones who _didn't_ find our love disgusting." She glared at the gym leaders. "But when we tried to invite... someone, the entire thing went downhill, and the police showed up."

"Well who'd ya try ta invite?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, who?" Korrina agreed, smirking.

"My mom." Gene answered, glaring at the Lucario. "My mom called the police on me, got me on every police watch list in Unova and Hoenn, and got me on the Pokémon Rangers wanted list for Poképhilia and Pokémon abuse."

Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Spike stared in disbelief. Misty held one paw over her mouth and Korrina's mouth hung open. Lucario just looked awkwardly in the opposite direction and Juniper and Fang tried to soothe their friend.

"My word," Rarity said, recovering from her shock. "You mean, your mother actually, my word."

"I, I didn't think," Korrina realized she had crossed a line there. "I shouldn't have said that, I didn't think, I mean your mom..."

Gene got up from the table. "Just forget it, I don't wanna think about it... or her." Gene stormed out of the room.

"Where's he going?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

"Probably to find the gym," Belle answered. "Whenever he gets mad he goes somewhere he can take it out."

The Gardevoir got up from the table. "Fang, Juniper would you-?"

"You don't even have to ask. " Juniper said with a nod.

Fang whimpered and ran out the door ahead of the Psychic-Types. Belle stopped before she left and turned back. "If anything happens, tell the guards where to find us."

Once Belle and Juniper had left the door Korrina turned back to the ponies, all of whom were staring at her disapprovingly. "I didn't mean to... I didn't know that,"

Rarity stopped her. "Look darling, I understand that you're upset about being turned into a Pokémon,"

"And I'm sure the Princess isn't gonna let Arceus leave you like this." Dash added.

"And we'll help in any way we can." Applejack agreed.

"But you simply can't keep acting like that to Gene and Belle, I know it seems unnatural to you but you must understand, most ponies don't put that much weight on race, at least not once they get to know them."

Korrina wanted to bring up that Applejack had acted like a jerk when they first met but didn't, she just hung her head. "I can't believe, his mom." Family was very important to Korrina.

Meanwhile, several floors above on a balcony overlooking the city Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Twilight Sparkle stood, watching as the citizens of Canterlot ran around in a frenzy.

"Here we go." Luna sighed.

Celestia took a deep breath and prepared herself, she channeled the royal Canterlot voice and began.

"_ATTENTION CITIZENS OF CANTERLOT!"_ A familiar voice rang throughout the city, cutting off the princess before she began.

Arceus appeared over the city.

"_I am Lord Arceus."_ The ponies below began to panic again, even more than they had been.

Arceus cleared his throat, attempting to draw their attention. _"As you know, I have recently brought the citizens of my world, the Pokémon, here, so that they could live in peace."_ Now a large group of ponies were gathering and staring up at the strange being, several were pointing and shouting things like "monster" and, for the ones who saw the princesses as religious figures "blasphemy."

"_Now I realize that this has been somewhat of an inconvenience, and I would like to thank the princesses for putting up with me."_ He turned to the balcony on which the princesses stood. _"And as such, I would like to present them with a gift, a show of goodwill if you would."_

Celestia's eyes went wide. "Please don't let it be something Pokémon related. No statues, no guards, no-"

"_I present to you, the Eternal Sundial."_ Arceus referred to the crystal structure by the name Diancie had given it when she made it several millennia ago. The enormous pink and gold crystal structure appeared over the city, causing everyone below to gasp.

"_You are welcome to return it if you wish but for now,"_ The sundial disappeared in a flash and reappeared in a field behind the hedge maze. He turned to Princesses again and bowed his head. _"Thank you once again, princesses and if you have further need of me, you know where I can be found."_

Arceus flashed gold and vanished, leaving behind a stunned city and three princesses gaping at the city's newest monument.

"That is... quite an impressive gift." Luna honestly couldn't think of anything that had been given to Equestria that she could compare to the several story tall pink crystal statue.

Celestia sighed, but then noticed that most of Canterlot, or at least a large portion of the nobles, had lost interest in panicking and were now admiring the Eternal Sundial, which could be seen quite clearly from halfway across the city.

"Huh," She said, slightly impressed. "He actually did the right thing this time."

Twilight was eyeing the sundial as well, but for a different reason, she could sense some kind of magic coming from the sundial, but not a form she was used to. And Twilight could differentiate between ambient magic, normal magic, dark magic and even chaos magic, but what came from the sundial was completely different.

"New magic." She whispered under her breath. She wasn't sure of any particulars yet, it was too far off, but she was sure it was something she had either never encountered before, or had only come in contact with_very_ recently.

_Oh my gosh! The Pokémon must have their own specific type of magical energy probably tied into the forces of nature like Juniper was talking about! Maybe if I can study it I can figure out how to control it, and-"_

"Twilight?" Celestia waved a hoof in front of her students face. "Did you hear me?"

"Hmm? Oh, uh, sorry Princess, I was just thinking, what did you say?"

Celestia smiled. _Same old Twilight._ "I said, I want you to find your friends, tell them that we won't be meeting again today and that dinner will be at seven, that is, if you wish to stay for the night."

Twilight nodded. "It's getting pretty late, we'll probably head back to Ponyville tomorrow." Twilight noticed the guilty look on Celestia's face as she said that. "Unless there's something else you needed?"

Celestia pursed her lip. "We'll talk about it at dinner."

Twilight just nodded, whenever Celestia delayed something, she usually had a good reason for it, Twilight excused herself and went to find her friends. Leaving Luna and Celestia alone on the balcony, the sisters suddenly vanished in a burst of gold and reappeared in Celestia's bedroom.

"Luna," Celestia began, turning to her sister. "What did those damage reports say?"

* * *

_Wham_

_Wham_

_Bam_

Gene stood in front of one of the punching bags in the castle gym, which was more a training area for the guards, letting his anger out.

"Stupid little-"

_Bam_

"Said I was just a-"

_Bam_

"Didn't even care that I love her!"

_Slice!_

Half of the punching bag fell to the ground, the entire thing spilling sand across the surrounding area. Gene looked down and saw that he had gone from hitting the equipment to using his arm blades to chop it. He sheepishly looked over to a group of trainees who had been in the gym when he had arrived, all of whom were gaping at him, knees shaking slightly.

"Sorry." He said as he moved away from the ruined bag.

Gene took a seat on a nearby bench and just sat for a moment. "Why does this still bother me so much?" He asked aloud. "I don't care about her anymore, she made her choice when she..." Gene felt his anger begin to boil again. But before he could mutilate another punching bag he felt a familiar presence enter his mind.

"Gene?" The former trainer whirled around to see Belle, Fang and Juniper watching him. "Are you alright?" Belle could sense her mate's distress, but found that talking through it was more helpful.

Likewise Gene could sense Belle's worry, he hated when he made her worry. Immediately he put on a fake smile and answered. "Don't worry, I just needed some time alone is all."

Belle just sighed and walked over to her mate. "You know I can tell when you're lying, so why do you even try?"

Gene's smiled dropped and the Gallade fell back onto the bench. "Sorry, I just don't feel like talking about her."

Belle sat down next to him, Fang curled up by his feet, and Juniper floated at his side. "I know sweetie but... you've been putting this off since the wedding. Don't you think it's time to talk about it?"

"Keeping your feeling locked up inside isn't good for your health." Juniper added, she wasn't just a Pokémon professor, she had a PhD. in Pokémon psychology, she wasn't sure if it applied to the current situation but was willing to try to help her friend.

Gene sighed again, then turned to Belle. "You're not gonna let it go this time, are you?"

Belle smiled slightly. "Seeing as how you're no longer human I don't see a reason why I should." She felt his reluctance and added. "Please? For me?"

Gene shook his head and said nothing for a moment, then answered. "Fine, for you."

Belle smiled at her little victory, then nodded to Professor Juniper. "Alright Gene," The Beheeyem began. "Let's start from the beginning, you invited your mother to your and Belle's wedding, then what happened?"

Juniper knew what had happened, she had been in Undella Town visiting when the Ranger Union had shown up.

"Belle teleported us out before the Rangers got to us," He answered. "Then it took a few days to get to Sinnoh, and after that things kinda went back to normal as long as I stayed out of Unova, Hoenn, and away from the Ranger Union."

Juniper nodded. "And did you ever try to contact your mother? Or tell her how you felt?"

Gene shook his head. "She made her position clear enough."

"Do you think you should've tried to talk with her? Maybe get some closure?" Juniper had never actually done a therapy session before, at least not one where the patient talked back.

"... Maybe," Gene consented. "But it's not like I could just call her. 'Hey mom just wanted to call you and ask why you ruined my wedding and made me an international criminal... Oh, because I fell in love? Well... what are you expecting me to say? Sorry?! I love Belle, I love her with all my heart, and I'm not gonna let some stupid rules stand in the way!'" Juniper was going to stop him, but he was on a roll. "'I honestly thought you would understand, that you would still accept me, for cryin' out loud! People from Unova who never even met me before gave me a chance!'" Tears were building in Gene's eyes, as well as Belle's. "'Y-you always told me to follow my heart, well, it led me straight to her, and if you can't accept that, then, then...'"

At that point something clicked inside of Gene's mind, something that had been hidden there for years. And since Gene was now a Psychic-Type it took the quickest route out.

"'_Then you don't deserve to be part of my, part of our life!'"_ The mental shout echoed through the minds of every nearby being, fortunately the guards had left before the impromptu therapy session began. _"'I don't want you, I don't need you, so... goodbye mom.'"_

Gene was panting heavily by the time he finished.

"Well," Juniper started, rubbing the back of her head. "I think we've made some good progress for the day."

Belle put a hand on her mate's shoulder, he turned to her and smiled, then pulled her into a kiss.

"_I promise,"_ He told her. _"After everything calms down a little, we're going to have our wedding."_Gene had proposed earlier, but he wanted to say it again.

Belle didn't mind in the least. She just kissed Gene harder.

"Awww." Gene and Belle broke the kiss to see that Pinkie Pie was standing in the doorway, again. "Oh, sorry." She apologized. "I would've knocked but you know," She gestured around the room. "No door."

Gene laughed. "It's fine Pinkie, but what did you want?"

Pinkie Pie smiled and pulled a clipboard from her mane. "Umm," She flipped a few pages. "What type of cake do you want at your wedding?" She asked with a smile.

"...Wait, what?" They asked together.

Pinkie giggled. "I know it seems kinda random but if I start with the supplies for the onetime events that I have to cater for now, I can make a calendar for birthdays and make sure I have enough ingredients for everything..." She tapped her chin with a pen. "Oh, I'm also gonna need your birthdays."

"Umm, January thirty-first." Juniper answered wearily.

"May second." Gene added.

"I hatched on the seventeenth of July." Belle answered.

"The twelfth day of the sixth month." Fang finished.

Pinkie scribbled the dates down in her notes. "And the cake?" She asked excitedly.

Gene and Belle shared a quick mental conversation, they settled on what they had planned for their first wedding. "Vanilla cake with Oran Berry filling." Belle answered.

Pinkie wrote that down and began to exit the room. "Thanks you guys! And call me when you have a date for-" Pinkie skidded to a stop, literally, then turned one hundred and eighty degrees back towards the Pokémon. "What's an Oran Berry?"

The group looked at each other. "A type of berry native to the Pokémon world." Gene facepalmed. He shared a quick revision with Belle, who nodded. "Do you have strawberries?"

Pinkie's eyes went wide and she waved her hooves in the air. "Oh no, Super Party Pony Pinkie Pie does_not_ compromise for the sake of convenience!" She shouted. "I promise I'm going to find you some Oran Berries and make you the best cake you've ever had!"

Pinkie was standing right in front of the couple now, and they noticed that despite her smaller size she was rather intimidating when serious.

"And _that_ is a Pinkie Promise." Pinkie crossed her heart, flapped her arms, and stuck a cupcake that she pulled from her mane into her eye. Zap stuck his head out of her mane as he watched the cupcake leave; it hadn't been there a moment ago.

"Alright Pinkie." Gene said, taking a step back. "Just ahh, don't stress yourself out?"

"Okie dokey lokey." She said with a smile. Pinkie trotted back towards the exit, checking her clipboard. "Next up, Mewtwo's welcome to Equus party."

Hearing that, the group froze, the four Pokémon looked at each other, then back at the door, then-

"Pinkie!"

* * *

Rainbow Dash sat in the dining hall, taping her hoof on the table impatiently. "Where are they?" She asked aloud. "I'm starving."

"Now Dash," Twilight began. "You know it would be rude to begin without our guests." She looked around the table, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Korrina, Lucario and Misty were already there and Misty had Togepi at her side, while Fluttershy had Cubone at hers. Spike was trying to find Pinkie Pie and they were still waiting on the Princesses, Gene, Belle, Juniper, and Fang... and Discord if he felt like it.

Soon Gene ran into the room, panting, Belle, Juniper and Fang entered after him. "Have any of you seen Pinkie Pie?"

"No," Twilight answered. "We've been waiting for her to show up, and you too actually." Twilight surveyed the Pokémon. "What happened?"

Belle shook her head. "Suffice to say that Pinkie seems to be trying to plan our wedding, as well as every other celebration for the next several years."

Rarity gasped. "So you two _are_ having a wedding!" The fashionista's smile grew even wider. "Oh that is so romantic, a forbidden love, finally allowed to blossom, and I can make the dresses!" She examined Belle for a moment. "Hmm, a dress over a dress... no matter, I'll make it work!" She said with finality.

"_Belle?"_ Gene asked his mate telepathically after a moment.

"_Yes?"_

"_Is this actually happening?"_

"_You mean the ponies offering to help with our wedding? I think so."_

Gene nodded. _"Alright, just wanted to make sure I wasn't hallucinating."_

Gene and Belle sat across from Rarity, and Fang hopped into one of the chairs next to them. Juniper went and sat by Twilight.

"So," The Gallade began. "Who are we waiting for now? Besides the Princesses I mean, cause I'm pretty sure Pinkie Pie's not coming."

The Canterlot Grand Ballroom

"And we'll have the dessert table over here, and we'll need to talk to the chefs cause I think some of the Pokémon eat meat, and I can't cook meat."

Discord drew pictures and figures on a large sheet of blueprints while Pinkie rushed around the room and shouted out random plans.

"Are you sure this will translate right?" He asked.

"Of course!" Pinkie replied, measuring the stage. "This is exactly the right size, we'll just have to clean the location out an eensy, weensy bit when it's time."

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna entered the dining hall to find that almost everyone had arrived. "Where are Pinkie Pie and Discord? "Luna asked, although her tone implied she didn't want to know.

Twilight sighed. "You're guess would be better than mine."

Celestia stepped forward. "No matter, they are not entirely necessary for the next part."

Korrina gulped. "What next part?"

Celestia sighed. "I realize that each of you had gone through quite a lot in the past few days, and that is why it almost pains me to ask for your help once again."

Celestia levitated a map from behind her back and unrolled it on the table. "You see, over the past two days, emergencies have arisen in all corners of Equestria and beyond." Celestia cast a spell and the map became a three dimensional image. "From Appleoosa to Trottingham, and everywhere in between." Several locations on the map glowed bright gold.

"Let me guess, Pokémon?" Misty ventured.

Celestia nodded. "Most likely, and I do not believe that the royal guard would be the best choice to deal with these... incidents."

"So you want us to kick some- I mean - see if we can figure out what's wrong?" Rainbow asked.

Celestia chuckled. "Yes, that's exactly it, but I will completely understand if you would rather return to Ponyville."

For a moment no one spoke, then surprisingly, Applejack did. "We'll seein' as how I got kin in Appleoosa, and ah haven't seen 'em in a while, I suppose it wouldn't hurt none ta stop by and see what's causin' a problem."

Celestia smiled. "Thank you Applejack, and as for the problem it appears that some kind of Dragon is causing a huge sandstorm over the applefields and surrounding area, although rarely in the town itself."

"The Buffalo are calling it 'The Desert Spirit.'" Gene's eyes widened.

"I know that one!" He shouted. "The Desert Spirit, that's what Hoenn natives call Flygon sometimes."

"Is that so? Interesting." Luna noted. "Do you know how to deal with one?"

Gene smiled. "I had a Flygon on my team, so I'm pretty familiar with them." _And maybe it'll be my Flygon._ He hoped, he turned to Belle. "What do you think?"

She smiled at him. "It's a chance to find Draco, let's go for it."

Gene turned to the Princess. "We're in."

Celestia smiled, then turned back to the map. "Now then, Cloudsdale-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, something up in Cloudsdale? Why didn't you say so, I'll head there now and-"

"Rainbow Dash, please wait a moment." Celestia interrupted the Pegasus as she flew for the nearest window. "As I was saying, Cloudsdale has been having problems in the lightning factory, something's been draining the power, and while I agree that you have the 'home court advantage' as it were, the factory contains very delicate, advanced, and dangerous machinery. Which is why I'll be sending Bio Chem along with you when you head to Cloudsdale tomorrow."

Rainbow Dash groaned. "Some egghead professor from Twilight's old school?" She complained. "And isn't he, I don't know, a biology teacher or something?"

"He's a geneticist by trade but is an exceptionally talented engineer," Luna explained. "Besides, it is good for him to get out of his lab every once in a while."

Rainbow groaned again but didn't object.

Celestia turned to her former student. "Twilight, I would like you and Spike to go to Trottingham and speak with some Pokémon who defended the town for the attack of another the other day."

"Of course Princess." She answered dutifully.

"Mind if I tag along?" Juniper asked. "I'd rather not just float around the castle feeling useless."

Twilight smiled, the last time she had met someone on the same intellectual level as herself was back when she first met Bio Chem, so talking with Professor Juniper was becoming a real delight. "It's no problem at all."

Celestia looked over the map again, Manehattan's problems were disappearing, the creatures such as the steel birds, sea serpents, and various others were apparently fleeing the highly populated area, and the Crystal Empire had Cadence and Shining.

"Fluttershy, I would like you to return to Ponyville and keep the native Pokémon calm, we don't want the locals to form some kind of mob." Fluttershy nodded, happy to be heading home.

Celestia grinned at her next problem. "Rarity, as I'm sure you're aware, Arceus gave the city of Canterlot a gift earlier today in the form of a several stories tall crystal sundial."

Rarity nodded as she thought about the magnificent statue.

"I would like you to study it, just a preliminary to figure out what it is exactly."

"M-m-me?" Rarity sputtered. 'But I don't know the first thing about..." She was going to say crystals, but her Cutie Mark would have betrayed that.

Celestia smiled. "Twilight told me you developed several spells to tell the composition of a gem, as well as its magic levels, that's all I want you to do."

Rarity didn't answer for a moment, then smiled. "I'll do my best."

Celestia nodded. Then turned to Misty, Korrina, and Lucario. "You three may stay here in Canterlot if you wish, or return to Ponyville, or I could have a chariot take you wherever you wish to go." Celestia still felt bad for Misty and Korrina, and she had her guards, armed with translation spells, combing the city to find any more former humans.

"I think I'll just head back to Ponyville for now." Misty answered.

"Same here." Korrina agreed.

Everyone waited for Lucario to answer, when he didn't they all turned to him. He raised an eyebrow and said. "I will not leave Korrina." As if it were the simplest thing in the world.

Despite herself, Rarity cooed at his comment, causing Korrina and Lucario to blush and look away from each other.

Celestia chuckled softly. "Well, with that settled." She clapped her hooves and servants entered bearing plates piled high with fruits, vegetables, flowers, and, specifically ordered for Fang and possibly the two present Lucario, meat, along with fish in case Misty needed it. "Dinner is served."

* * *

Dinner went off without a hitch and after about an hour everyone went to bed, or at least to their bedrooms, except for Celestia, she was once again heading down a hallway in her school for gifted Unicorns.

Bio Chem, meanwhile was finicking with some computer simulations on the device Blueblood had brought him. After the explosion the prince was taken to the infirmary and Bio Chem was left with his usual berating from Arcane Glyph, the current head mistress.

The simulations were, fortunately, all failing miserably. "I don't get it," He said to himself, no matter the strength of the laser, the power I pump into it, the wave length, or the organism I simulate, it just keeps exploding!"

Bio Chem couldn't even discern what the device did yet, he theorized either a genetically keyed vaporizer ray or a genetic recording device but couldn't be sure, and the technology it used was ahead of even him. "Doesn't help that it was busted when Blue brought it in." He mumbled.

That was when Princess Celestia came in. "Bio Chem?" She called.

The stallion turned to the Alicorn. "Princess, so good to see you... is this about the explosion or the Pokémon?"

"A little about the ... wait, so that _was_ you!"

Bio Chem's eyes widened. "Never mind that, you were saying?"

Celestia glared at him but continued. "I have a mission for you," She explained. "Tomorrow morning I'm sending you to Cloudsdale to help with some complications at the lightning factory."

Bio Chem frowned. "You know I'm not a mechanic, can't you get someone with a lower IQ to fix some machines?"

Celestia continued to glare. "It _may_ have something to do with the Pokémon, but if you don't-"

"I'll do it!" He cried.

Celestia smiled. "Good, you and Rainbow Dash leave tomorrow morning," She began to leave before he could complain about being paired with somepony else, but stopped when she remembered something. "Bio Chem, where is the Pokémon I left with you?"

Bio Chem sighed and turned to a machine. "It's gone Princess."

Celestia froze. "What?"

Bio Chem turned back to her. "It's gone, as in, no longer here, at all, gone."

Celestia gritted her teeth. "You, you, how could you?" Her anger began to bubble. "I knew you were a bit extreme at times but this? I didn't think you could-"

At that point Bio Chem realized what was about to happen. "Wait, no, no, no, no, no, I didn't kill it! It escaped."

Celestia's anger vanished. "Escaped?"

Bio Chem rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, it ate through the trash can and pushed the door open."

"... The door was unlocked?"

Bio Chem nodded and waited for the Princess to respond. It took a moment. "I don't know what worries me more, the fact that you lost a creature that can eat anything in a building full of foals, or the fact that you leave the door to a room full of dangerous machines unlocked in a building full of foals."

* * *

Princess Celestia rubbed her temple in irritation as she walked past Aegislash and into her bedroom. The sword had been patrolling the castle under her orders all day, it at least kept it away from her most of the time.

She had left Bio Chem with _very_ specific instructions to find the Trubbish, then release it outside, preferably near a dumpster.

Once Celestia entered her room she felt something warm and fuzzy brush up against her leg and looked down to see Ninetales nuzzling her. "Hi Celestia!" The fire fox chirped happily. "How have you been?"

The Princess couldn't help but smile, Philomena, whom she had explained the situation to earlier and was now in her nest in the Canterlot gardens, was a good listener. But having something fuzzy to snuggle with was nice too.

"It was... slightly stressful but otherwise alright." She answered as she climbed into bed. Celestia had already called for a meeting with the other racial leaders after Arceus' announcement so she could, thankfully, get right to sleep. Ninetales hopped in after her and curled up at her side, the solar Alicorn was surprised at just how warm the Fox Pokémon was, until she recalled that she was a Fire-Type.

"Goodnight Ninetales." She said with a yawn.

"Goodnight Celestia." Ninetales replied

Meanwhile across the hall Princess Luna was preparing for bed as well, just not for sleep.

Luna's horn glowed midnight blue as she cast the lasts spell from an ancient tome, one which Twilight had gotten from the castle in the Everfree.

"Finished." She sighed. "Temporary immunity to nightmare magic whilst within the Dreamscape," She looked back down at the book. "I pray that this holds."

Luna climbed into bed, her Swablu fluttering to the little perch that now sat by her bed side. "Wish me luck little one." Luna said as she cast her dream walking spell. "Darkness, here I come."


	18. Chapter 16

The dreamscape was calm, calmer than it had been the night before. "I suppose Arceus' plan does have its merits." Luna commented as she pulled herself together in the dream world.

Many ponies, and Pokémon, were still having nightmares, but it was significantly less than it had been when the entire situation had been a mystery.

"Now to business." Luna took off towards the Everfree, observing the various dreams as she went. Noting out of the ordinary appeared, apart from some Pokémon dreams beyond her understanding, and soon she reached her destination.

The Hall of Legends. And the dark void. Luna lit her horn with a spell designed to break even the darkest of nightmares.

Meanwhile Darkrai was temporarily unaware of what was occurring just above the material plane, and was trying to concentrate on something else entirely. Darkrai floated outside of Cresselia's room, trying to work up the courage to knock. Cresselia had been inside since yesterday after he left her, and he felt incredibly guilty for it.

"_It's nothing romantic,"_ He tried to assure himself. _"I'm just going to apologize and... but if she's been crying then I'm going to... Gahh!"_

A pulse of darkness traveled outward from Darkrai, doing next to nothing in the real world but washing over Princess Luna in the dreamscape, startling her but leaving her otherwise unscratched.

Darkrai settled on the ground. _"I'm pathetic."_ He stated. _"I can't even think talking with Cresselia without losing my nerve anymore."_ Then Darkrai though back to what Meloetta had said yesterday. _"She's right, I have no reason to worry, I'm Darkrai, lord of nightmares and the embodiment of the new moon, and Cresselia... my beautiful lunar princess."_ Darkrai clenched a fist over his heart. _"I have to do this."_

Darkrai floated over to the door and readied himself. He went to knock, then Luna's spell blasted forth and Darkrai felt a searing pain in his arm.

"_GAAAHHHH!"_

The Dark-Type reeled back in pain, and in fear as he sensed where the attack had come from. _"It's back."_

Now that he was sensing the dreamscape Darkrai could tell that the being was preparing another attack._"... No."_

A swirling portal of darkness opened beneath Darkrai and he sank into it. Then he came out, in the dreamscape, directly behind a midnight blue Alicorn. Luna tensed as she sensed Darkrai's presence. The lunar Princess whirled around and fired another spell to disperse nightmares. Darkrai dodged and stared at Luna.

"_Greetings Princess Luna."_ He greeted. _"I am Darkrai."_

Luna glared at the legendary. "What art thou? Some abomination, escaped from whatever prison Arceus had you trapped in?" Luna was not taking any chances, the last time she let nightmare magic near her... she didn't think about that.

Darkrai chuckled. _"No Princess, I am a member of the legendary council, and a patron of Dark-Type Pokémon."_

Luna froze. "You are... how can thou claim that? You very being reeks of nightmare and..." Luna lost her train of thought as she sensed Darkrai's nightmare powers taking hold of the dreamscape. Spreading farther than they could in the material world and twisting the dreams of Pokémon and ponies alike. As long as Darkrai stayed out of any one specific dream no adverse consequences would befall the sleepers but Luna didn't know that.

"You pervert the dreams of the innocent!" Luna screamed at him. "If a being like you can exist under Arceus' then perhaps we were wrong about him."

Darkrai sighed. _"My powers are neither my, nor my Lord Arceus' choice, they are simply there, I do not control them."_

Luna had a hard time believing Darkrai, and for good reason. His form reminded her of Nightmare Moon, black skin and a flowing mane, cat like eyes and the sheer amount of nightmare energy.

And yet she was still going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Until she sensed one of the nightmares he had caused in a young filly that Luna was rather fond of.

"Scootaloo."

Scootaloo dreamt that she was being abandoned by her friends, family, and worst of all, Rainbow Dash, when she saw just how cruel the nightmare was, how Scootaloo was treated, Luna blasted it to oblivion. Waking Scootaloo up but saving her much pain.

Luna turned to Darkrai. "I am Princess of dreams, as such I cannot allow a creature who opposes all that I stand for to bring suffering to my subjects, turn yourself in now and you will not suffer."

Darkrai shook his head. _"Do not do this Princess, I have no control over my powers, I wish them gone, I wish that I could control them, but I can not. I'm sorry."_

"I know," A tear slid down Luna's face. "But I do this for my ponies... I'm sorry."

Luna blasted another spell at Darkrai, he slipped into a portal and evaded it, coming out behind the Princess he tried to incapacitate her. _"Shadow Ball."_

Luna heard him behind her and jumped to the left, narrowly avoiding an orb of darkness. "Just stop this!" She shouted, firing a spell to make Darkrai sleep.

"_Ominous Wind."_ Darkrai deflected the spell and hit Luna with the attack. Causing Luna to reel back in disgust and pain.

She fired another spell, this one taking Darkrai by surprise and hitting him in the shoulder. "Gaah!" Darkrai's black flesh sizzled.

Luna fired another spell as she took a step forward, Darkrai sank into the ground.

Luna looked around aimlessly for him until she heard his voice. _"I cannot allow you to dispel me Princess Luna, just as I will not kill you... but this must end, so with regret I say... Dark Void."_

Luna felt herself sinking into the ground, as well as falling asleep, real sleep, not the state she went into where she could access the dreamscape. _"I apologize for what I'm about to do... but I will not be destroyed."_

Luna sensed Darkrai fading from the dreamscape, and materializing in... her room. Luna's eyes went wide but she continued to fall asleep. She made a last ditch attempt to stop Darkrai by casting a reversal spell but her altered state of mind ruined it... or so she thought.

Darkrai floated through a dark portal and into the bedroom of Princess Luna, had he not traced her energy back here from the dreamscape he wouldn't have been able to enter the castle through his powers but by following Luna's path he had circumnavigated the wards.

Darkrai floated over to Luna and stared down at the sleeping Princess, a look of determination on her face. _"I'm truly sorry."_ He placed a dark hand on her forehead, and let his nightmares flow.

Luna's horn suddenly lit up and blasted Darkrai, but not with a dispersal spell, with a mimicry spell. Darkrai only had one thing to say as he blacked out. _"Clever Princess."_

* * *

Darkrai opened his eyes, he was in some kind of hallway. Before him were a set of obsidian doors with a crescent moon on them. _"What's going on?"_ He wondered to himself.

Suddenly he found himself on the other side of the doors. Watching a scene play out before his eyes.

"So Celestia," A pitch black Alicorn stood in front of a dark throne, standing in front of a group of eight. "You failed, the elements failed, even Discord failed." Nightmare Moon smirked as she beheld the only beings on the planet who could have stopped her, in chains. Inside, however was a different story.

Princess Luna screamed as she watched the scene play out from the position of Nightmare Moon, her lips moving beyond her control.

"My victory is assured, and the night, will last, FOREVER!" Luna felt heard her laughing, herself laughing.

_"NO, NO, NO, NO!"_

Nightmare walked forward and tilted Celestia's head up, the alabaster Alicorn was bruised and scraped. "And I am left with the problem of what to do with all of you." She sighed and let Celestia's head fall.

"Do what you want to me Nightmare," Celestia spat. "But let the others go, they don't deserve to suffer."

"Oh but they do!" Nightmare interrupted.

"_This is Luna's worst nightmare."_ Darkrai realized, finding himself unable to move.

"But _how_ is the question." Nightmare walked to the end of the line where a bruised and bloody Discord, wrapped in chains and no less than five power inhibitors kneeled. "Are you certain you will not join me Discord? You are chaos, you had no place amongst these ponies in the first place."

"Go suck a moon rock." Discord muttered.

Nightmare frowned and smacked Discord, knocking him to the ground.

"Discord!" Fluttershy cried, trying futilely to reach her friend.

"Silence Nag!" Fluttershy fell silent. Nightmare approached Discord again. "In that case, I already have your punishment. Only an immortal would be able to go through this, and only Celestia would be able to do it without going insane."

Celestia's eyes widened. "No." She whispered.

"Discord, grand lord of chaos, last of the Draconequus," She grinned evilly. "I banish thee to the sun."

Before anyone could react Nightmare had cast the spell and Discord was gone.

Inside Nightmare's mind, Luna screamed. _"AHHHHHHH!"_ But Nightmare wasn't done.

"Now for the elements."

"Leave my friends alone Nightmare." Twilight said, looking up. "Just give me their punishments and let them go."

"Hmmm, interesting offer but... no!" Nightmare walked over to Rarity.

"I think that you and Sombra will get along quite nicely my dear," Rarity's legs began to shake. "After a few, cosmetic changes, that is."

"_Enough!"_ Darkrai wouldn't stand by and watch the ponies be tortured, he focused all his powers and used Dream Eater, the landscape, Nightmare Moon included, began to fall away as the dark Alicorn transmuted Rarity into living crystal. Her screams were the last thing Luna and Darkrai heard as the world shattered.

* * *

Luna stood frozen in place, as still as Discord after a shower in the elements. "Where am I?" She wondered, surveying her surroundings and seeing she was in a grassy field, but something was wrong, the sky was grey and the grass was almost black. And in the center of the clearing was the only light source in the area, and a being Luna recognized. "Darkrai?"

Luna suddenly found herself in front of Darkrai, and saw he was not the light source, the dim, pinkish glow instead resonated from a creature which Darkrai held in his arms, it's body was only comparable to that of a swan's and that came nowhere close to doing the creature justice. It had a golden crest surrounding its head and, most striking, three pink 'wings' that appeared to be made of moonlight.

"_Cresselia."_ Darkrai whimpered, clutching the broken body, blood dripping from several large gashes on her body, including on across her forehead. _"I, I failed. I couldn't control it."_ Tears of liquid shadow fell from Darkrai's eyes and onto the blackening grass. _"I failed her, sh-she tried to help me and... and,"_ Sobs wracked the Dark-Types body, causing Luna to tear up at the very sound of his despair. _"It's all my fault!"_ He screamed between sobs. _"I should've stayed away, I should've listened to them... I... I didn't deserve you... I'm a monster, I didn't deserve you."_

Luna tried to look away but she was still frozen.

"_I'm sorry... my love, I failed you,"_ The landscape began to fade, the darkness slowly swallowing everything, Cresselia's body dissolving into dust.

"_I'm sorry."_ Darkrai whispered a final time before the world disappeared. _"I'm sorry."_

* * *

Luna and Darkrai jolted awake.

"NOO!"

"_CRESSELIA!"_

The room was dead silent for a moment, the Princess and the Pokémon staring at each other, then Darkrai spoke. _"I guess you and I aren't so different after all."_

Luna hung her head, partially in shame, partially in shock. "You, you have a... you are not a monster." She stated. "You're just-"

"_Misunderstood?"_ Darkrai knew Luna would understand what he meant.

Luna hung her head in shame. "I'm... sorry I attacked you, I was-"

Darkrai held up a hand to stop her. _"You had your subjects' best interest at heart."_ He shifted nervously. _"I should apologize as well, striking back with a nightmare was not a very wise idea."_

Luna nodded. "What happened there? I saw your nightmare and I assume you saw mine."

Darkrai thought for a moment. _"The spell you cast, before you passed out, it must have done something with my nightmare powers, and your dream viewing."_

Luna nodded, then spoke. "I believe that it would be fitting to say, let us never speak of this again."

Darkrai chuckled. _"As you wish Princess."_ Darkrai made to leave the room but Luna stopped him.

"Darkrai, wait," Luna got out of bed and trotted over to the Pokémon. "I am the most powerful being on the planet when it comes to controlling dream magic, if there is anyone who can help you control your powers, it is me."

"_No one can help me."_ Darkrai said, turning away.

Luna hung her head. "Just let me try," Luna got an idea. "For you and this... I believe her name is Cresselia? Yes I remember, I met her yesterday, she was excited about meeting you for a date."

Darkrai didn't move, didn't speak, didn't even breath. _"Fine,"_ Darkrai consented. _"For her."_

Luna smiled. "Perfect, we begin now."

Darkrai looked startled. _"Now? But-"_

"No buts, we start now." Luna had long considered getting her own pupil, much like Celestia had with Twilight, she guessed tutoring a nightmare creature would work as well. "Oh, and remind me next time my niece Cadence is in town to introduce you two," Luna smiled. "I believe she could help with your romance problem."

* * *

Breakfast the next morning was... eventful, the cook's supply of bacon had mysteriously gone missing over the night and this had led to a freak out in the kitchen until Gene had come in and informed them that the Houndoom could eat berries, and even apples.

Another problem was the no one could find Pinkie Pie or Discord, that had led to a lot of worry until they found a note from Pinkie saying that she, Zap, Discord, and Entropy had caught the first train back to Ponyville, that had raised several questions, not the least of which was who Entropy was.

After breakfast Celestia cast a spell on the entire group, a special translation spell that lasted for three days. It had taken some time to get it right and she had never used it before but until she found a more permanent solution it would have to do.

Soon the separate groups parted ways, Fluttershy, Korrina, Lucario and Misty heading to the train station to catch the next train back to Ponyville.

The train bound for Trottingham was scheduled to leave around ten and the Appleloosan train about a half hour after that. Which left plenty of time for Twilight to show Juniper, Gene and Belle around Canterlot.

Spike decided to head over to Twilight's parents' house and visit with Nightlight and Velvet and Applejack thought it'd be nice to meet Twilight, and Spike's, family.

This left Rainbow Dash waiting on the castle's landing platform, impatiently tapping her hoof. Princess Celestia had told her that Bio Chem would be along shortly, that was about an hour ago.

"Uggg," She moaned. "What's taking this guy so long?"

The Royal Guards designated to pull the chariot that would take the pair to Cloudsdale shrugged.

Rainbow Dash sat down and crossed her arms. "Seriously, I'd be there and back by now if I didn't have to wait for this guy."

"Well I'm sorry Miss Dash." Bio Chem, sporting a pair of brown saddle bags the same tone as his coat, called as he exited the castle, pulling what looked like a giant battery behind him. "But not all of us were born with wings."

Dash glared at him. "I'm not saying you're slow 'cause you're an Earth Pony, I'm just saying you're late."

Bio Chem huffed. "I'm pulling an electromagnetic field stabilizer behind me, it's heavy."

Dash just grumbled. As Bio Chem reached the chariot he was faced with the issue of getting the machine up the steps. Watching him struggle futilely with the device, Rainbow sighed.

"Here," She grabbed the machine, grunting. "Let me help."

Bio Chem took a few steps backwards and finally got the device over the last step. "Now carefully,"

BAM!

The chariot shook as the device hit the ground. "I said careful!" Bio Chem ran over to the machine and checked to make sure it was undamaged.

"Sorry," Dash said, not very convincingly. "But that thing weighs a ton," She closed the door behind her and moments later they were taking off. "What does that thing even do?"

Bio Chem didn't even look up at her as he explained. "It's an electromagnetic field stabilizer; it stabilizes the electromagnetic field in an area."

Dash actually understood what he said, a combination of weather mechanics in high school and hanging around Twilight had taught her a thing or two.

Bio Chem and Rainbow Dash sat in silence for a while, after checking his machine Bio Chem took a seat opposite of Rainbow Dash and stared out the window.

That went on for almost five minutes before Rainbow Dash's boredom got the best of her, a personal record.

"So," The rainbow Pegasus began. "You know Twilight." It was more of a statement than a question, she hoped it would start him off on a story of how he met her.

"Yes."

Or not.

Dash fidgeted in her seat for a little before trying again. "She said you were her science partner."

"Yep, Mr. Meiosis' third period biology." Bio Chem cocked his head slightly remembering. "He didn't like me very much."

"Why's that?" Dash asked, glad he was finally talking.

Bio Chem deadpanned at her. "I was a troublemaker." His voice was dry and humorless.

"Uhh, really?" Dash knew he was kidding but didn't know why.

"Of course not, he didn't like that I was in the class in the first place," He slumped slightly. "A lot of ponies didn't."

Dash was quiet for another moment, hoping she wouldn't have to say anything. After a few more minutes, she spoke up again. "Ok, Ursa in the room, was it the Earth Pony thing or am I missing something?"

Bio Chem rolled his eyes. "Of course it was the Earth Pony thing, other than a few professors everyone in that school was a Unicorn, or an Alicorn, but that was only Princess Cadence and she was in the upper class."

"So how'd you get in?" Dash asked.

Bio Chem waved his hoof in back and forth. "Ordered the application form and tests for the science department, filled them out, aced them, then my father took the issue straight to the Princess after the headmaster tried to keep me out."

"And that actually worked?" Dash asked in disbelief.

The stallion shrugged. "It probably helped that my IQ tests read higher than some of the teachers, and that I rigged up my own magic suppressor from a diagram in a text book which I modified and turned on when I met with some of the magic professor one on one."

He smiled at Dash. "The sudden drain in magic in the room freaked them out so badly they fainted, and I think it put me on Princess Celestia's watch list."

Dash found herself trying to sink into her seat. "Ahh, cool."

Bio Chem went back to staring out the window, this time Dash didn't try to talk to him. She had no idea why but she was inexplicably nervous about the stallion.

"Oh look," He said with a grin. "We're here."

A moment later the chariot touched down on the landing pad. Dash was the first out, spreading her wings and doing a few loops as Bio Chem dragged his machine down the steps, it was much easier on the way down but Dash was honestly surprised when the device didn't fall through the cloud layer.

"The shell's mixed with cloud dust." Bio Chem explained. "Now come on, I wanna see what's up in the lightning factory."

* * *

Bio Chem and Rainbow Dash stood outside the entrance to the lightning factory, arguably the most dangerous of all the buildings in the weather compound. "Well, no use waiting around here." The head of the weather compound had told the pair that they had evacuated the building last night after... things, started appearing, Bio Chem was irrationally excited about finding these creatures. He pulled some kind of scanner from his saddle bags and opened the door.

His eyes went wide when he saw what was inside. "Sweet Celestia." He looked over the swarm of creatures in the main room, darting amongst the machines. There were two types he could see, both obviously related to each other in some way.

The first was what appeared to be a small metal ball with an eyeball in the center and with three screws and two magnets on their bodies. Bio Chem assumed these were merely analogous to their inanimate counterparts and were evolved to, he theorized, help them feast on electromagnetic waves if their current place of habitation was any indication.

The second group of creatures appeared to be three of the former creatures attached to each other. "Symbiotic relationship perhaps?" He asked aloud as he typed on his datapad. "Possibly so they can store more electricity and move further from the power sour-"

Bio Chem looked at the readings on his screen, the checked it again, then turned it off and back on to make sure. "Impossible." He muttered.

"What's impossible?' Dash asked, eyeing the Pokémon in curiosity, although really they weren't the most interesting she'd seen, that probably went to Fang.

"They're, they're," A spark in Bio Chem's eye drew Dash's attention, and would've warned anyone who knew the stallion to go find Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, or Arcane Glyph.

His smile spread wider and wider, surpassing reaching Pinkie Pie levels but creepier. "They're some kind of metal based life forms, they have DNA but, well, they shouldn't! For all intents and purposes they are made of organic steel!"

Bio Chem rushed over to his machine. "And I'm going to catch one."

Dash's eyes went wide. "Princess Celestia said we were supposed to find whatever was causing the problem and deal with it without causing any living creatures harm." Celestia had been very clear when she had told Rainbow Dash the plan, specifically so she could use it against Bio Chem should the need arise.

"While that is true Miss Dash, I know the current definition of living and it does not include floating metal eyeballs." Bio Chem went to switch on his machine but a cyan hoof grabbed him by the wrist and stopped him.

"If there's even the slightest chance that that's going to hurt these things, don't even think about turning it on."

Bio Chem rolled his eyes. "Look, I get that you're loyalty and all but I know life, it's basically my PhD. and these things are machines, which I also have a PhD. in. So I'd appreciate it if you let me do my Job and- Hey! Where are you going?"

Dash launched herself of the ground and into the swarm, Rainbow Dash hovered in the air and waited, the Magnemite and Magneton paused and several floated over to Dash. One of the Magnemite positioned itself directly in front of the Pegasus.

"Hello," It greeted her in an androgynous voice. "Are you a Po-ny?"

"Yeah, that's me, and you know who else is a Pony?" She asked rhetorically, a mischievous smile growing on her face. "That guy," She pointed to Bio Chem who was waiting for her to return before he turned on his machine. "And he can tell you a lot more about this place than I can."

The Magnemite and Magneton buzzed in glee, and then a few dozen rushed over to the stallion while a few more darted deeper into the factory, still leaving the majority floating aimlessly around the machines.

Meanwhile, Bio Chem found himself surrounded by the Steel-Types, all of which were pelting him with questions.

"What is the point of this factory?"

"Why does it appear that we are in the sky?"

"What substance is the ground and walls made of, and why are we able to pass through them?"

"Did Lord Arceus send you? Where is he?"

"Yes, yes. Where is Lord Arceus?"

"Where?"

"Where?"

"Where?"

Bio Chem stumbled backwards as the Pokémon continued to ask him where Arceus was, repeating it in their robotic voices. Before he could answer, a much deeper voice sounded from deeper in the factory.

"Silence!"

The Magnet Pokémon stopped their investigation and flew towards the sound of the voice, all of them.

Soon another being entered the room, similar to the Magnemite and Magneton but very different.

It was much larger, and more oblong, it had three much larger magnets on its body and two equally proportionate screws. It also now had some kind of antenna atop its head, its eyes, much like a Hammerhead Sharks, were on opposite side of its body.

It floated right up to Bio Chem, the multitude of Magnemite and Magneton behind it. "Are you the one who knows of this factory?" It asked.

Bio Chem nodded weakly.

"You will answer the question that I set before you, and then you may continue doing whatever it is you came here to do. Do you find this situation acceptable?" The Magnezone's monotone voice made it very hard to tell how it felt, but Bio Chem nodded. Hoping it was trying to be reasonable.

If Magnezone had lips, it would've smiled. "Thank you Po-ny, first question..."

* * *

"Final question," Magnezone finally said after almost twenty minutes of Q&A. Bio Chem had never explained more about Cloudsdale in his life, and he was also going to have to somehow redefine what constituted a "Living creature" When he got back to Canterlot.

Out of boredom Rainbow Dash had begun playing with some of the Magnet Pokémon, mainly seeing what she could get them to stick to and for how long before they flew off.

"What is it that you came here to do?"

Bio Chem paled and Dash snapped to attention. The Geneticist and weather pony unsure of how to ask a floating creature made of steel to leave the building.

Bio Chem was going to ask Dash for help but saw the rainbow mare was standing a good fifty feet away on top of one of the machines, she waved at him.

"Loyalty my plot," He cursed under his breath. He looked up at the Magnezone and sighed, then smiled. "You see Magnezone, this factory is very important in the daily running of the Equestrian weather service, and you and your swarm are creating electromagnetic interference with the machines that make the lightning, in short, you really can't stay here." The stallion shifted nervously. "We were sent by the Princess to get you out of here."

The Magnet Area Pokémon froze in midair, both its eyes trained on the Pony.

"You... wish for us to leave?" The Electric-Type buzzed for a moment as its appendages rotated. "That is not possible; no other suitable source of nourishment is within traveling distance."

Bio Chem groaned, large levels of electricity were rare in Equestria and Equus as a whole, and almost all of them were in cloud cities.

While Bio Chem pondered just how to get the creatures out of the factory, Rainbow Dash was curious about something. "Hold up a minute," She flew over to the Magnezone and landed on top of the creature, she leaned over its forehead and met its gaze upside down. "Where did you guys live before this entire thing started?"

Magnezone buzzed momentarily and answered. "My swarm made its home in the Badlands surrounding the Power Plant of Lumiose City, we feasted off the generators."

Bio Chem paused. "Wait you're saying that your natural habitat is any building that produces high levels of electricity?"

"That is correct."

Bio Chem faced hooved. "That's a serious problem," He turned to Rainbow Dash. "Right, it appears we're going to have to work out a compromi... wait, how much power have you been draining from the generators exactly?"

"As we did in Kalos, we drain the excess electricity that escapes the machines, as well as the electromagnetic energy in these clouds. Our bodies and abilities are able to remain fully functional on approximatley ten percent of the output of these machines."

Bio Chem blinked once. "Did you do anything to the workers? Anything at all that could be considered an attack."

"Negative."

Bio Chem shook his head. "Right, you're coming with me, I'm going to explain the situation to the head of this facility and having you there will make it seem more realistic."

"But, it's all true." Dash added.

"Yes, but this is insane, and I would know," He looked up at the mare, still sitting on Magnezone. "You can go do whatever you want, I think I can take it from here. " Dash's eyes narrowed, eyeing Bio Chem suspiciously. The stallion rolled his eyes. "Don't worry," He sighed. "I can't experiment on sapient beings... anymore, the Princess made sure of that."

Rainbow stared at him for a moment more but eventually took off, planning to look around Cloudsdale for a bit before heading back to Ponyville.

Bio Chem watched Rainbow Leave, and then turned back to Magnezone. "Alright, let's get this over with."


	19. Chapter 17

Fluttershy walked off the train in Ponyville station, followed by Korrina and the other Pokémon. Cubone sat peacefully on her back, looking around at everything with interest.

"So other ponies are gonna be able to understand us, right?" Misty asked.

"That's what the Princess said, yes." Fluttershy looked around at the various ponies. "At least, I think that's what she said."

Misty plodded ahead of the group. "Only one way to know for sure." Then Vaporeon looked around the station, then trotted over to a grey Pegasus mare with a mail bag slung over her shoulder. "Excuse me, miss?"

The mare looked down at Misty. "Hello!" She chirped happily.

Misty smiled. "Hi, just wanted to make sure that you could understand me."

She giggled. "Of course I do, I understand everyone." She held out a hoof. "I'm Derpy."

"Hi Derpy, I'm Misty." Misty was glad she had chosen to talk to Derpy, she seemed like a nice mare. "Well, I gotta go."

Derpy waved as Misty trotted off. "Bye, Misty." Once Misty was back with her group Derpy pulled a note pad from her bag, eyeing the Pokémon. "Blue fish-fox, yellow and blue Diamond Dog like creatures, white, red and blue speckled egg..." She said as she jotted down the notes.

"Well that settles that." Misty said.

"So what now?" Fluttershy asked.

Korrina shrugged. "Guess Lucario and I'll head back to the farm first, tell Mrs. Smith what's up."

"I was figuring I would go for swim," Misty shifted nervously. "Since I'm gonna be like this for a while I figured I'd see what I can do."

Korrina raised an eyebrow. "Alright just, don't get too attached, we are getting back to normal."

Misty nodded, then turned to Fluttershy. "Know any good ponds or anything?"

Fluttershy thought for a moment. "There's a little stream by my house, it leads into Ponyville Lake, I can take you there, but then I really should try to find Pinkie and Discord."

* * *

"A little to the left!" Pinkie shouted.

"Righty-o, Pinkie Pie." Discord called back, maneuvering the stage light into place.

"Little more… little more… perfect!" Pinkie turned to Zap, who was sitting next to the power cable. "Alright Zap, light 'er up."

"Rotom, tom, tom." An electric pulse traveled from the Pokémon and into the light, activating the hoofball-grade lighting system.

"Perfect." Pinkie crossed another item off her checklist. "That's lighting, food, dessert, stolen meat products… still need Oran berries."

"Zzzzz." A blue and purple creature floated up behind Pinkie, its disconnected head floating to face the pink pony.

"Hi, Entropy," Pinkie greeted the Pokémon, flipping a few pages to see if she had time to get some things for Mewtwo's party. "What's up?"

The Porygon-Z had found Pinkie and Discord last night in Canterlot, and had immediately clung to Discord like butter on toast.

"Z, z, z, zzz."

"Uh huh, uh huh, I hear ya."

"Uhhh, Pinkie Pie?" Pinkie turned to see Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo staring up at her in confusion. "Can you understand him, eh, her... it?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Not. At. All." Pinkie answered, shaking her head with each word. "What's up, girls?"

"Well," Scootaloo began. "We've kinda just been wandering around town, and we heard that you were setting up some kind of party."

"And we realized we haven't tried to get our party-throwing cutie marks." The CMC's had been sent home the night before and had been told they would receive their punishments the next morning. Thus, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had stayed in their bedrooms, and after her sister left Apple Bloom had avoided her brother and granny, until boredom had driven to take what was coming to them.

Coincidentally, this had coincided with one god announcing his plans, suffice it to say, this had caused temporary panic, which had, for a while at least, cleared the CMC's of their wrong doings as everypony tried to sort out the issue. And while everything was back to almost normal the next morning, the girls punishments were still forgotten. Which was why they were now out and about, and discussing ways to get their Cutie Marks, several of which involved Pokémon.

None of which would have ended very well.

"Soo," Sweetie continued. "Can we help you…?" She looked up at Discord, who was painting some kind of art in the sky. "And Discord, with the party."

Pinkie tapped her chin. "Well, I could use some help getting some supplies, and if you girls do that I can start planning Belle's bachelorette, and Gene's bachelor party, after I get the last thing I need for Mewtwo's 'Welcome to Equus' party." Pinkie smiled. "So I don't see why not!"

Unbeknownst to Pinkie, there was one thing that was supposed to stand in the way of something like this. After Discord had been released, Twilight had made several contingency plans revolving around the chaos lord. The other Element Bearers had been present for these planning sessions and they had all been revised after the Elements were lost.

But Pinkie hadn't been present for one, not due to her having some other plan, or simply being late, the others had not told her because the plan had involved her, and Discord, and three other ponies.

Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy had solemnly sworn to never, never let Pinkie Pie, Discord, and the CMC's work together on anything ever.

They had almost Pinkie Promised but Dash had stopped them, saying that Pinkie would know.

Pinkie and the other beings involved in their pact had no idea.

"Alright!" The CMC's hoof bumped. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Party Ponies!"

In Canterlot and the Hall of Legends respectively, Princess Celestia and Arceus shuddered.

"Alright, girls," Pinkie said, jotting down a list of directions and supplies. "You're gonna have to split up for this. Apple Bloom, I want you to stay here and make sure everything goes according to plan."

Pinkie Pie shoved a hard hat on to Apple Bloom's head. "Yes ma'am." She saluted.

"Sweetie Belle, this is a list of stuff we're gonna need and a bag of bits; get as many streamers as you can!"

Sweetie grabbed the list in her magic and walked away. "Carrots, candy… candy carrots," She read the list as she walked off.

"Scootaloo," Pinkie turned to the little Pegasus. "I need you to pass out these invitations."

Pinkie dropped a pile of invitations in front of Scootaloo, they left a small crater in the ground. Scootaloo's jaw dropped.

"Pass these out to every pony and Pokémon in town, and then see if you can get one to Zecora and any Pokémon in the Everfree."

Scootaloo shook her head, then smiled nervously. "Y-you got it, Pinkie Pie."

The little Pegasus grabbed the pile of invitations and dragged them towards her scooter and the wagon attached to it.

Pinkie Pie looked down at her checklist. "Willing volunteers to lessen work load, check."

"Say what now?" Apple Bloom asked in confusion.

"Never mind that, go help Discord with the stage."

Apple Bloom looked over to see the Draconequus pounding nails into a large wooden structure. When the filly turned back to Pinkie she saw that the Party Pony was gone.

"It needs to be done by tonight!" Pinkie called from over further off than should have been possible.

As Pinkie Pie bounced off, Apple Bloom shrugged, passing it off as Pinkie being Pinkie.

Pinkie Pie hopped through town, Zap nestled in her mane, looking over her checklist. "Alright! Mewtwo said. "Stop bothering me, already! I don't want a party!" I ignored him and stood there bouncing, then he sighed and said "If I give you an answer will you stop jumping out of the dresser?" Then he said. "I do enjoy apple pie, and no, I don't remember when my birthday was." Which is the saddest thing I've ever heard, or maybe the second."

Pinkie Pie shrugged. "Either way I need to get an apple pie, and who makes apple pies better than…" Pinkie Pie jumped and landed in front of… "The Apples!" Sweet Apple Acres.

"Tom?" Zap had no idea what had just happened, and he was beginning to wonder if it was safe to be around Pinkie.

Pinkie hopped towards the house, smiling all the way. "But ya know, Zap, this can't be a normal apple pie. No, I've gotta make it super-dy duper special, you only come to an alien planet with an entire ecosystem in tow to escape the evils of your home world once."

"Tom." Zap nodded in agreement.

"Which is why I brought these." Pinkie Pie reached into her saddle bags and pulled out a bag with a stitch of a rainbow apple on it.

"Rotom?"

"No silly, these are Zap Apples, they're a magical fruit, native only to Equestria, and only around Ponyville. I asked Discord about it once, and he said that the Everfree's chaos magic sunk into the flora and fauna, although I'm pretty sure he made Poison Joke himself."

"Tom tom?"

"I know Zap Apples normally only grow at a certain time of year, but I kept these babies safe and sound since last season for something special, and a 'Welcome to Equus' Zap Apple apple pie for Mewtwo is just that kind of special."

Pinkie Pie trotted up to the house and knocked. A second later, Big Mac opened the door.

"Hi, Big Mac!" Pinkie Pie hopped inside. "Is Applejack home yet?"

"Nope." Big Mac replied.

"Oh, then I need your help!" Pinkie Pie showed him her bag of Zap Apples. "Do you know how to make Zap Apple pie?"

"Nope." Big Mac didn't do much kitchen work, he cooked about as well as his sister lied.

"Alright, then is Granny Smith around?"

"Eeyup."

Pinkie Pie smiled. "Kitchen?"

"Eeyup."

"Thanks, cuz!" Pinkie said with a smile as she trotted into the kitchen. "Mewtwo," She whispered to herself. "Prepare to have your taste buds blown away!"

* * *

Gene watched as the landscape rolled past them, he had been on trains before but never one as… odd as the ones they had in Equestria, and he was surprised that they ran as fast as they did.

"So, what's Appleoosa like?" He asked Applejack, the only pony in the car.

Applejack smiled. "Nice enough. Nice ponies, and buffalo too. Wonder how they're reactin' to this whole thing."

"I just don't wanna get attacked as soon as I get off the train." Gene replied.

"Don't worry, Ah'll be with ya, so I doubt anything's gonna go wrong."

Gene smiled and looked over at his mate. Belle had nodded off after a few hours and Fang had followed suit.

"Gene?" Applejack asked, getting the Gallade's attention. "Can ah ask ya somethin'?" She looked down slightly. "It's kinda personal, but Ah'm a might curious."

"Sure, what about?" He asked, slightly suspicious.

"Well, uh, gosh, how do ah say this? Ah know you use ta be human, and that you and Belle had the whole…" She gestured vaguely around to get her point across. "But you and her looked so similar, least from what she showed us the other day, so uh… why don't you guys have kids yet?"

Gene was shocked and confused by the question. "Because… well, that would be impossible. Belle and I aren't, or, uh, weren't compatible in that way. We were different species."

Applejack nodded. "Right, but so are ponies and griffins, and Twilight told me she met a hippogriff once up in Canterlot."

"A hippo-what now?" Gene asked in confusion.

"Oh, um, half pony, half griffin." Applejack explained. "And we have less in common appearance wise than you two did, well maybe about the same."

Gene nodded. "Well I can see where the confusion's from but unfortunately Belle and I couldn't have kids."

"And now?"

At that point Gene realized something that seemed obvious in retrospect. "We… can." His face lost all expression. "I could… be a dad, I can…" A goofy smile formed on Gene's face as he drifted off.

Applejack laughed lightly at her friend's realization, then she saw something out the window. "Gene," The Gallade didn't hear her. "Gene!" He snapped to attention.

"Hmm?"

Applejack pointed out the window. "See that?" Gene looked out the window and saw a little town come into view over the hill, the town itself appeared calm but the sandstorm that raged in the distance said otherwise. "That there's Appleoosa."

* * *

Applejack led the group of four off the train and into town, the almost abandoned town.

"That's probably not a good sign." Belle commented.

Applejack ignored her and trotted ahead of the group. "Braeburn? Strongheart? Anyone around?"

No one answered. "Oooh, ghost town." Gene said jokingly. "I bet there's a Chandelure around here somewhere, just waiting to suck out our souls!"

Belle rolled her eyes. "As long as we have Fang, I think we'll be fine."

When no one else said anything Applejack got nervous. "Uhh, ya'll are jokin', right?"

"Half joking." Gene answered. "Chandelure really can steal your souls." Applejack's eyes filled with terror. "But don't worry, they prefer graveyards and spooky towers and… ok, ghost towns but I doubt there's anything here that's dangerous."

The group walked for a while longer before they became fed up. "Alright, this is stupid; Belle? Find them if you would."

Belle smiled and clasped her hands together. As the Gardevoir's eyes took on a bluish glow, a psychic wave traveled outward, alerting Belle to any nearby presences.

Belle sighed and walked over to the sheriff's office. "Come on." The group followed her over and, as Applejack pushed the door open, the earth pony was pulled inside by a pair of light yellow hooves.

The three Pokémon stood there for a moment, confused. "Umm," Gene began. "Applejack? Are you alright?" More muffled sounds from behind the door.

Gene sighed. "Look," he called. "I don't know who you are, but you can either open the door or we're gonna break in. Seriously, my dog breathes fire, and I do kinda have swords for arms."

"Not to mention that I can teleport." Belle added helpfully.

There was silence for a moment, then the sound of someone being slapped on the back of the head and a soft "Ow!", followed by Applejack pushing the door open.

"Sorry 'bout that." She apologized.

As Applejack stepped out of the sheriff's office she was followed by two Earth Pony stallions and a young female Buffalo.

"Gene, Belle, Fang, this is my cousin Braeburn," The stallion was still rubbing the back of his head, he held his hat at his side. "This here's Little Strongheart," The Buffalo calf eyed the Pokémon nervously, especially Fang. "And Sheriff Silverstar." The Sheriff stared at the Pokémon, unblinking, as if he were unsure of what to do with them.

"Umm, hi." Gene offered, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Well, hog tie me and hang me from the rafters, they do talk." Braeburn let out a low whistle.

Applejack sighed. "Braeburn, what's goin' on here? Ah ain't seen a soul since I showed up."

Sheriff Silverstar stepped forward. "Well Miss Applejack," He began. "It all started-"

"Three days ago, Pokémon suddenly appeared all over your town, you were afraid, and it didn't get better when an inter-dimensional deity explained the situation to you." Belle summed up.

Sheriff Silverstar stared at her disapprovingly. "You some kinda mind reader?" He asked in suspicion.

Belle shrugged. "Yes, but I didn't need to read your mind to figure that out, we've been through the same thing, except we actually talked to the god."

The stare didn't stop but Little Strongheart stepped in front of the sheriff, blocking it. "We've been inside since yesterday, waiting for the Princesses to fix the situation."

Gene laughed. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen. We Pokémon are here to stay."

"WHAT!?" All three Appleoosans asked at once.

"Yesh," Gene said. "I didn't think we were that bad."

"You're telling me the Princess is just gonna let these things stay here?" Sheriff Silverstar asked, sounding almost angry. "One of those monsters is whipping up a sandstorm and cutting off our path to the orchard!"

Gene gritted his teeth. "Did you just call us monsters?"

The sheriff eyed the Pokémon. "Well-"

"Eenope." Applejack held her hooves out and stopped both of them. "You two ain't fightin' over this. Sheriff, we actually came her to stop whatever's been causin' that storm."

The sheriff raised an eyebrow. "You four are gonna stop a dragon? Ah know you're strong, Miss Applejack but not even you can stop a dragon, and those three, well some of 'em look more fit ta go dancin' rather than fightin'."

Belle glared at the sheriff, then gave Gene her "Please let me hurt him just a little?" look. Gene had to admit, he considered it.

"Ok, Sheriff," He finally said. "First off, don't underestimate my mate, and never pull the damsel in distress thing around her, I've seen her take down opponents who were about five times your size easily."

Silverstar shot Gene a disbelieving look.

"And secondly, I've worked with this type of Pokémon before, in fact, I'm hoping that it's the one I know, and if it isn't I'll still probably be able to talk some sense into it."

"You're gonna talk sense into a dragon?" Little Strongheart asked.

"You worked with a dragon?" Braeburn asked in awe.

Gene shrugged. "Technically two, although River was a lot easier to train than Draco."

Sheriff Silverstar threw his hooves up in defeat. "Fine; ya'll wanna get yourselves killed by some vicious beast? Be my guest, but I have a duty to protect the citizens of Equestria, so Braeburn? Go with 'em and if anything goes wrong, get Miss Applejack back here safely. Ah'm gonna go talk to Chief Thunderhooves 'bout this."

The stallion trotted off, eyeing the Pokémon as he passed them. "You'll have to forgive him," Braeburn said. "He's been on edge ever since them crit- uh- ya'll started showin' up."

"I can tell." Belle agreed.

Gene looked in the direction of the sandstorm. "Well, if we're going to do this we should get going, Flygon, at least wild ones, are active most of the day but they don't like the cold, you know, reptilian, so we need to get there before nightfall."

Braeburn's eyes widened. "Wait, you're serious about this? I mean, it is a Dragon."

"Yeah and even if it's not Draco, Belle's basically a dragon slayer." Gene said nonchalantly as he started off towards the distant storm

"You know I don't like it when you call me that." Belle complained as she caught up with him.

Gene smiled. "Sorry my sweet Fairy Princess, but it's the truth."

Belle blushed and smiled softly as she heard Applejack suppressing her laughter, and saw Fang smirk from his place at Gene's side.

Applejack, Braeburn and Little Strongheart caught up with the Pokémon soon after. "So what's this ah, Flymon?"

"Flygon." Fang corrected, surprising Applejack.

"Uh, right, what's a Flygon like?"

Gene tapped his chin. "They're some of the smaller dragon Pokémon, not usually over six feet, sort of a muted green with light red casing covering their eyes."

"Do they sing?" Little Strongheart asked. "Some members of my tribe who went to investigate reported what sounded like a mare singing."

"That's the sound that a Flygon's wings make when it flies through a sandstorm." Belle explained. "Although I suppose a Flygon could sing if they wanted to."

"It probably wouldn't sound all that great though." Gene added.

After a short while the group found themselves a fair distance from the town, surrounded by the desert. And some desert Pokémon.

"I swear that cactus is followin' us." Braeburn warned in a hushed voice.

Gene looked back at the cactus, which was actually a Cacturne, and sighed. "Don't worry, it'll leave after it figures out we're not gonna die."

That only made the ponies, and the Buffalo, more nervous. "Fine," Gene conceded. "Fang, use Flamethrower."

The Dark-Type smirked and turned around. His jaws lit with fire. The Cacturne's eyes shot open and it quickly ran in the opposite direction.

"Heh, heh." Fang trotted back over to his trainer.

"What was that?" Applejack asked.

"A Cacturne, it's a Grass-Type so-"

"Ah meant the thing with Fang." Applejack corrected.

"Oh, that," Gene patted his dog on the head. "A Houndoom's fire leaves a permanent burn, not the actual mark, just the feeling."

Applejack's mouth hung open. "And you fight other Pokémon with Fang's fire?" She asked, sounding slightly distressed.

Gene saw the minefield before him and thought of a quick way around it. "Yeah, but only when he's angry, like, enraged angry, otherwise it's normal fire, still scares the daylights out of just about anyone though."

Applejack wasn't completely satisfied but she dropped it.

Not ten minutes later the group ran into their next Pokémon.

"Diglett-dig. Diglett-dig. Diglett-dig."

"Trio, trio, trio."

"Diglett-dig. Diglett-dig. Diglett-dig."

"Trio, trio, trio."

"What in the world are they?" Little Strongheart asked, kneeling down to look at the little creatures.

"The little singular ones are Diglett, the others are Dugtrio." Gene explained, watching a Diglett slide past him. "They just hang around in desert or rocky areas and they-"

"No wait, let me guess," Applejack interrupted. "They dig."

Gene smiled. "You guessed it."

They left the Ground-types to their digging and continued on their way. They were already halfway to the orchard and the sandstorm, and were just passing the time by talking. Unaware that high above, they were being watched.

The dragon honed his powerful eyes in on the Gardevoir and Gallade below him, he knew at this height he would just appear to be a large bird Pokémon. He recognized the Gardevoir, as well as the Houndoom, but the Gallade, something was off about him, but that wasn't important. What was important was that the strange Gallade was acting affectionately towards Belle, and she wasn't stopping him.

"I don't care where we are," Draco grumbled to himself. "A mate is for life, no matter what." Draco loved Gene like he was his hatch-mate, that would be a brother in human terms, and he was not going to let some strange Pokémon take his brother's mate.

Draco repositioned his wings and drifted behind the group, then he folded his wings against his body and shot downwards.

Gene heard the wind whistling behind him, he thought nothing of it until Belle tensed up and her eyes widened. "Gene, look out!" She shouted, a moment too late, as a two hundred pound dragon slammed into Gene from behind, knocking the ponies to the ground as it shot past.

"Who are you?" Draco growled. "And what are you doing with my hatch-mate's mate?"

Gene, now lying on the ground, pinned beneath a Dragon, had four things going through his head at that point, the first was, _"Neat, I survived that."_ The second, not surprisingly, was _"Oh good, it's Draco, he's not gonna eat me."_ Not only had his questions made his identity clear, he had the same shaped tail fins as Draco, which were slightly rounded at the tip before curving in at a sharp angle. The third was _"I shouldn't've left my hat at Rarity's."_ Gene had assumed he wouldn't really need his old hat anymore, considering he had a natural helmet now, and the fourth was. "Did you just call me your hatch-mate?"

Draco reeled back in shock. "That voice…" He couldn't not recognize the voice, and yet he couldn't believe it.

"Draco," Belle ran up behind the Flygon and put one hand on his shoulder. "It really is him."

The Mystic Pokémon looked from Belle to the Gallade in disbelief. "H-how did… is that what Lord Arceus meant when he said 'transformed'?"

Gene nodded. "I guess I got my reward, didn't I, Draco?"

The Flygon would've teared up if he could. "Gene." He walked back over to his trainer. "I'm sor-"

Gene wrapped his arms around his Pokémon. "Don't worry, I'm not a fragile little human anymore." He said with a laugh.

Draco smiled and returned his trainers hug.

As the two broke apart, Applejack trotted over. "So, Ah take it this is Draco?"

Gene smiled. "Yep, Draco, this is my friend Applejack, her cousin Braeburn, and their friend Little Strongheart, everyone, this is Draco one of my Pokémon and best friends."

"Fly!" He greeted the ponies happily.

The Appleoosans were less than pleased. "Great, now could you get him ta stop with the sandstor- wait what happened to it?"

The sandstorm had indeed dissipated, having lost its energy when Draco got all emotional, the Flygon's eyes widened in fear behind the tinted lenses. "Uh oh." He whispered.

"What is it?" Gene asked. "Why were you even causing a sandstorm in the first place?"

Draco shook his head. "When I first woke up, I was in a cave a little away from that orchard, but… I wasn't alone." Belle had set up the translator once Draco started explaining so they didn't have to restate what he said.

"Well what else was-?" Belle began, but was interrupted when the ground started shaking.

"Earthquake!" Little Strongheart screamed.

"No," Draco said, lifting himself slightly off the ground. "It's just using Dig."

Gene's eyes widened as the shaking subsided, and an enormous steel snake burst from the ground. "AAARRAAHHHHHHH!" The ground shook with thunderous roar.

Gene gulped. "Steelix." He said aloud, informing the ponies. "Also, run."


	20. Chapter 18

Applejack froze as she stared at the creature that had just burst from the ground, it was at least thirty feet long, and it looked like someone had glued a bunch of boulders together, plus the spiked boulders and its jaw made the thing look like a real monster.

"Applejack!" The mare turned to Gene. "You need to get out of here!"

The Steelix finally noticed the group. "AARAHHH!" It cried again, dropping to the ground much in the way a snake would and began charging towards them, tearing up the ground as it did.

Applejack's eyes widened, then she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Belle, just as the Gardevoir whispered "Teleport."

Applejack had been teleported before; Twilight did it enough that she was accustomed to the feeling, but this was different. Normally she just felt a little tingly during and after the teleport, like she had received a mild shock, and was transported from one place to another almost instantly. When Belle teleported her, she felt as if her entire body was being stretched out, then put back in another place, although it didn't last long.

When Applejack opened her eyes she saw she was standing a safe distance from the Iron Snake Pokémon with Braeburn and Little Strongheart, Belle smiled at her, then teleported again.

"Are ya'll crazy?!" Applejack shouted, running towards the battle. "That thing really is a monster!" She knew it was a Pokémon, and that it was probably intelligent, but at that point, she didn't care.

Gene watched as the Steelix roared at the sky, letting loose a Dragon Breath as it did. Belle reappeared at his side. "Alright, Steel and Ground Type," He thought for a moment. "Belle, stay here, Fang?" The Houndoom cocked his head. "Light it up."

The Fire-Type smirked and took off towards the Steelix, which was slowly, and destructively, making its way towards town. "Oh no you don't." Fang pushed himself to go even faster and as he caught up with the Steelix, he jumped, and let loose a stream of scorching flames. "Flamethrower!"

The blast hit the Steelix square in the back, knocking the creature to the ground. "Insolent whelp!" It cried, its voice was deeper than a bass guitar. "I'll smash you! Iron Tail!"

The Iron Snake's tail shined and it brought it down, hard... on the spot Fang had been second ago. The Houndoom raced around the Pokémon. "Nasty Plot." he whispered to himself, immediately his eyes lit up as an idea formed in his head. "Over here ya big oaf!" He cried, jumping on top of a boulder.

Steelix turned and glared at Fang. "Why you... Headbutt!" Fang leapt from the boulder just as Steelix smashed it to pieces.

"Feint Attack!" Fang jumped forward, startling Steelix, who was shaking bits off rock off his head, and smacked him, it did little more than aggravate the Steel-Type.

"Rock Throw!" The Steelix dug his tail into the ground and hurled several large boulders at Fang, one of which hit its target and knocked Fang to the ground.

"Heh heh heh." The Steelix slowly made its way over to Fang. "You put up a good fight, mutt, but now, this is my win!"

Fang leapt to his feet and growled. "No one, calls me, a mutt! Inferno!"

Flames erupted from Fang's maw and shot forward, striking the ground in front of Steelix and engulfing him. "RAAAHHH!" This time the Iron Snake roared in pain, when the flames finally died down the Steel-Type still stood, panting, rather nasty burns littered its metal body. "Is that *huh* the best you've got?" He panted.

"No," Gene said from behind Fang. "But this is pretty close. Draco, use Superpower!"

Fang smirked and ducked as his teammate shot over him, and right towards Steelix, the Iron Snake's eyes widened as the Mystic Pokémon came closer and...

"**Wham!**"

Steelix was suddenly airborne, the now unconscious Pokémon landed with a mighty thud, creating a crater as it did.

Draco flew a few feet above the unconscious titan and Fang sat nearby, grinning.

"Good work, you two," Gene said as he and Belle made their way over. "Now what are we gonna do with it?"

At that point, Applejack, Braeburn and Little Strongheart ran up to them. "How did you do that?" Little Strongheart asked in awe. "I mean, that thing is like, five times your size!"

Fang shrugged. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

"And Fire beats Steel, and so does Fighting." Draco explained.

Braeburn stared at him blankly. "You threw that thing twenty feet in the air."

Draco looked confused for a moment and looked back at the unconscious Pokémon. "Felt higher than that."

Applejack looked at the Pokémon for a moment. "Is stuff like that actually normal for ya'll?"

Gene looked at his team, who all shrugged. "More or less."

Applejack was about to say something else but was interrupted when Sheriff Silverstar galloped over. "What in tarnation is goin' on here?" He asked. "And would someone please tell me what that thing is?" He pointed to the Steelix.

"A very angry, probably very confused Steelix that would have likely destroyed your town if Draco hadn't kept it inside that sandstorm." Belle answered.

The stallions jaw dropped. "You mean ya actually beat that thing?" He had assumed they had just found it.

Draco smiled. "I'm sorry for the Sandstorm, but I had to annoy it enough to keep it inside."

"You… ah… come again?" The sheriff stammered.

Gene sighed. "A Sandstorm can't actually harm a Steelix, they're immune, but if they just don't want to bother with one they'll just stay in their cave until it blows over."

"And… you four beat it?" The still shocked pony asked.

Gene chuckled. "No, just Fang and Draco."

The stallion glanced from the dragon to the hellhound. "Right." He said after a minute. "First off I'd like to apologize for what ah said back in town."

Gene smiled. "It's alright, I think the new situation's gonna take some getting used to for everyone."

"Ah guess you're right," The sheriff smiled. "And second off," He pointed to the Steelix. "What are we gonna do with that thing?"

Gene and Belle looked to each other.

"Do you have any chains we could borrow?" He asked after a moment.

"Say what now?" Applejack stared at him.

He held up his hands defensively. "We're just gonna try to talk to it, see if we can get it to leave peacefully."

"Can't you teleport it somewhere?" Braeburn asked Belle.

She raised an eyebrow at the stallion. "Steelix can dig through the ground at over one hundred miles an hour, it would wake up before I was able to get it half that far."

Little Strongheart shifted nervously on her hooves. "So you're going to try to talk some sense into a giant steel snake?"

"That's the plan." Gene answered. "Unless anyone has any other ideas?"

The ponies, and Buffalo, all looked at each other, but said nothing. "Well," Braeburn finally spoke up. "Talking did work with us and the Buffalo."

Little Strongheart smiled and nodded in agreement. Sheriff Silverstar sighed. "Fine, Ah'll go see if we have enough rope 'n chains to hold that thing down."

Gene leaned on the Steel-Type as the sheriff walked off. "So," He said jokingly. "Anyone have any questions?"

Three hooves shot into the air.

* * *

"So let me get this straight." Twilight said, looking at Professor Juniper. "No Pokémon actually have live birth."

"No," The Beheeyem shook her head. "Most lay eggs, some break off parts of their bodies, some are formerly human spirits in a new form, a few are man-made and one goes through binary fission, but none give birth to live young." The pair had been discussing Pokémon ever since they boarded the train.

"So only humans?" Twilight asked again, wanting to have her facts straight.

Juniper nodded. "Yeah, and you said that it's more split here?"

"Ponies, zebras, and griffins all have live births, but dragons, changelings and hippocampi lay eggs… and that's not even all the different races." Twilight reaffirmed.

Spike who, out of boredom, had been listening in on their conversation, spoke up. "So then Gene's dog hatched from an egg?"

"Fang, and he's a Houndoom, yes, so did Belle, and Lucario." Juniper was beginning to wonder just how different from her home world Equus was.

Twilight nodded and finished scribbling something in yet another notebook. "Well what's a Pokémon… hatching, like?"

Juniper though for a second. "It's more like a cradle really."

"What?" Twilight asked.

"A Pokémon egg, it's like a cradle, or a second womb. After the mother lays the egg, which can take anywhere between fourteen and almost three hundred days from the time it's conceived, the baby Pokémon continues to develop for up to another fifteen months, the lowest I think is a two week period for the egg to hatch after it's been laid."

"And the difference is in the species and the typing right?" Twilight ventured.

"Very astute, Twilight," Juniper complimented the Unicorn, making the student in her smile. "Yes, some Pokémon, Bug-Types and ones like Magikarp, are on the lower end, while complex dual types, say a Water and Electric-type, or Dragon Pokémon, take longer." Juniper thought for a moment, then added. "I think the longest it takes, from conception to hatching, is Hydreigon, taking just under... I think... twenty months? Yeah, about twenty months, then a baby Deino will hatch."

Twilight shuddered as she remembered the creature that attacked them back in the Everfree. "And the hatching itself… or, umm, second birth?"

Juniper smiled. "Hatching is fine, and… Twilight, it's something you have to experience, the egg glows with light as the shell begins to crack and when it breaks, the energy that it releases just, have you ever experienced the feeling in a room right after a… foal, has been born?"

Twilight shook her head, she had only ever been present for Spike's hatching, and she had a pretty good feeling that this was different.

"It's like that feeling, only it permeates the area, and for a moment everything's just so... peaceful." Juniper finished with a smile.

Twilight smiled. "Juniper, do you know anything about magic?"

"I know you ponies use it in your daily lives in one form or another and it permeates throughout Equus, why?"

"Well, I was wondering if you knew about the kind that comes from your world, and the Pokémon in particular."

Juniper frowned. "Twilight, I-"

"Hey guys, we're here." Spike interrupted.

Sure enough, the train had arrived in Trottingham. Twilight got up and walked towards the door. "Come on, we'll start again later." She said to Juniper.

The Beheeyem nodded and floated after her. "So, Twilight what do you know about Trottingham?" She asked as they stepped out on to the train platform.

"It's one of Equestria's older settlements; in fact, only Canterlot and Cloudsdale are officially older than it, and it was the first area settled by earth ponies. Cloudsdale is of course a Pegasus-founded city, and Canterlot was more of a group effort lead by unicorns."

"Interesting." Juniper commented as she left the train station behind. She was surprised to see several Pokémon scattered about as Twilight lead them through town, and not just small ones.

A Talonflame sat perched on the edge of a bird bath, a group of Aipom swung in the trees of a nearby park, and a group of foals were playing with a young Kangaskhan, while its mother stood watch.

"Well what's the town like?" Juniper asked.

"A lot like Ponyville really, or any small town, I've only ever met two ponies from here personally, a young colt back in Ponyville who moved there before he could remember his first Nightmare Night, and this stallion, Time Turner, although I've never really talked to either of them."

"Derpy says Trottingham's more old fashioned than Ponyville, kinda like one big Winter Wrap Up, more physically driven than magically." Spike added.

Twilight looked at her assistant curiously and he chortled. "While you and the others are out on some big adventure, who do you think gets the mail?"

Twilight smiled and turned back to Juniper, who was looking slightly confused. "Everything alright?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah," Juniper began. "Just... what's Nightmare Night? And Winter Wrap Up?"

Twilight facehoofed. "Right, keep forgetting the different worlds thing. Nightmare Night is a holiday in October, it's kind of a celebration for Princess Luna, or that's what it's probably becoming now, where foals dress up in costumes and go door to door collecting candy."

Juniper would've raised an eyebrow, but she no longer had any. "Like Halloween?"

"What?" Twilight deadpanned.

"It's a holiday back on Earth," Juniper explained. "It involves Ghost Pokèmon, candy, costumes, and Lord Giratina... or it use to." Recently, the holiday had become more for the candy, and less for appeasing any Ghosts, let alone their patron.

"Actually, that's what Nightmare Night is, basically." Twilight stopped. "The candy started as an offering to Nightmare Moon, and the costumes as a way to hide from her so she wouldn't eat you."

Juniper's eyes went wide. "I thought you said Nightmare Moon was trapped on the moon for a thousand years, until you saved Luna."

Twilight giggled. "The gobble you up thing was never real, I don't actually know how it started even."

"Oh, alright, and Winter Wrap Up?" Juniper inquired.

"That's when ponies clean winter up and make way for spring, move the clouds, melt the white snow, welcome back the southern birds... you don't have anything like that?"

Juniper shook her head.

"Huh, you know, your world sounds really interesting." Twilight noted.

Juniper laughed. "That really means something, coming from the magic pony Princess whose teacher raises the sun."

Twilight giggled. "Yeah, I guess it does look that way, doesn't it?"

Spike rolled his eyes as the two continued to talk, walking slightly ahead of them. The little dragon had a bad feeling that Juniper would be coming back to Ponyville with them, and judging by how the professor acted, it would be like living with two Twilights. Spike actually shuddered at the idea.

Spike stopped in front of a large building and held a claw out behind him, stopping Twilight as well.

"Oh, looks like we're here. Thanks Spike." Twilight trotted into City Hall, followed by Juniper.

"No problem, Twilight." Spike grumbled to himself, although Juniper managed to catch it.

Twilight trotted up to the front desk, where a mare who she assumed was the mayor's receptionist was reading a magazine.

Twilight waited for a moment then spoke up. "Um, excuse me? I think the mayor is expecting us."

The receptionist looked up, and almost fell out of her chair. "Princess Twilight!" she exclaimed. Her accent reminded Twilight of Pipsqueak's, and Bio Chem's actually, she wondered if the stallion's family was from Trottingham. "Um, of course, the mayor is in a meeting at the moment, but he told me to send you in as soon as you arrived."

She gestured down a hallway to the right. "His office is at the end of the hallway."

"Thanks you." Twilight said with a smile, Professor Juniper nodded to the mare and floated after Twilight, Spike followed them down the hallway.

As Twilight reached the door that lead to the mayor's office she heard strange sounds coming from behind the door, and what sounded like static in her head.

"Probably a Psychic-type trying to transmit something, either young or inexperienced judging by the static." Juniper said, setting up her own force field to stop the noise.

"If experience is a problem, then how come you can do that?" Spike asked.

Juniper smiled sheepishly. "Thing is, I'm at a bit of an advantage. Beheeyem are very powerful. I'm not a hundred percent sure on the exact rating but they're about the fourth or fifth most powerful non-legendary Psychic-type. I know Metagross and Alakazam are one and two, but I can't remember if Gardevoir was number three… or was it Meowstic?"

Twilight nodded, filed a few more questions away for later, and knocked on the door.

Immediately the noises stopped and few seconds later an older earth pony with a grey mane and a tan coat opened the door. _"If he had a bow tie he'd look like Mayor Mare as a stallion."_ Twilight thought with a smile.

"P-Princess Twilight," he stammered, his accent wasn't as pronounced as his receptionist's but it was still noticeable. "I didn't think you'd be here so soon, I'm ah, I'm meeting with some…" He sighed. "It'll be easier to show you." He moved to the side to let the Princess in.

Twilight entered the room and saw that there were four other beings already there. Two were sitting in chairs in front of the mayor's desk, one was a formidable looking bipedal creature that Twilight could only compare to some type of bird mixed with a human, assuming all humans resembled what Gene had looked like. It had feathers covering its entire body, except for its claws, which resembled a griffin's talons. Sitting next to it was another biped, this time similar to a fox, although it has the same feminine qualities Belle possessed, including a dress, it also had a red bandana wrapped around its head, looping it under the large tufts of fur that erupted from its ears.

The other two beings in the room were sitting on a couch in a corner of the room. They were both the same kind of Pokémon, and they didn't, in Twilight's opinion, differ that greatly from some of the predatory birds of Equestria, aside from the feathery crest that sprouted from their heads, their bright red tail feathers, and the fact that they seemed to be about the same size as a Pony. The larger of the two had some kind of dark purple scarf wrapped around its neck, although upon closer inspection it appeared to be the shredded remains of some kind of outfit.

"Hello," Twilight greeted them. "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, and this is my friend Professor Juniper and my assistant Spike. We're–"

"Professor Juniper?!" The Delphox and one of the Pidgeots asked at the same time.

Twilight took a step back. "Yes, I'm guessing you've heard of her?"

"Wait," The Delphox looked at Twilight. "Can you understand us?"

Twilight blinked once then smiled. "Of course, Princess Celestia cast a translation spell on me, and you are?"

The Delphox stared at Twilight a moment longer, then smiled. "I'm May, and this is Blaziken."

Twilight thought for a moment. "So I'm guessing you used to be a human, right May?"

The Fox Pokémon looked at Twilight in disbelief. "Yeah… how do you-?"

"One of my friends explained it to her, and so did Arceus." Juniper answered.

May gulped. "A-Arceus? You actually met him?"

Twilight nodded. "Three times actually, he's a bit full of himself but he genuinely cares about his subjects, and that includes you." Twilight looked to the pair of Pidgeots on the couch. "And you two."

The Pidgeot who had spoken before smiled. "The names Falkner, Violet City Gym Leader, and this is my partner Pidgeot."

"Another human, that makes five so far," She turned to Juniper. "There are going to be a lot of these aren't there?"

"What? Former humans showing up? Probably." The Beheeyem knew at least four others who had known Gene's secret and kept it just that, as well as few colleagues, some students, and three trainers whom she knew very well.

"Um, Princess?" May chimed in. "I know what Arceus said yesterday but I'm still wondering, is Princess Celestia doing anything to, I don't know, fix this?"

The impatience in May's voice was clear, Twilight shifted awkwardly on her hooves. "Well, you see, the Princess is trying to convince Arceus to make the humans… human again, but when it comes to going back to Earth…" She bit her bottom lip. "I'm sorry to say that it's next to impossible that you'll ever see Earth again."

May's jaw dropped. "But… I mean, that can't be right."

"Believe it," Juniper spoke up. "The Princess wouldn't even let Arceus take the Pokémon back to Earth if he could; it was something that Mewtwo showed her, I think."

"Plus, she wouldn't do that to Gene and Belle." Spike added.

"Who?" Falkner asked.

"Oh, Gene's one of the humans I mentioned, he and his… mate, Belle, are already planning their wedding and-"

"Wait, you mean… oh great, a Poképh-"

"Don't even start." Spike interrupted.

Twilight and May both gaped at him. "Spike," Twilight berated. "That's very rude, everyone is entitled to their own opinion."

Spike huffed. "But Twilight, you weren't there when Gene told us what happened, how they treated him and Belle."

Juniper's eyes widened. _"Twilight,"_She said mentally. _"Gene's mother called the police on him when he tried to invite her to his and Belle's wedding."_

Twilight's eyes went wide, but she didn't say anything.

"You know," Falkner suddenly chimed in. "I don't really think a new world is the place to be bringing up old societal views, especially ones that really don't apply anymore."

Twilight looked at him quizzically, then noticed he had one of his wings wrapped around Pidgeot, and how close they were to each other.

"…Wait, are you two… together?" Twilight asked, recently she had been applying what Cadence had taught her to the real world, in the way that she tried to figure out who was dating who in her free time.

Falkner cleared his throat. "As the Violet City Gym Leader, I am required to say that I find the very idea revolting beyond all measure," The lack of sincerity in his voice was painfully obvious. "But as a former human I'd like to say that there's no way I am ever giving up these wings and that Pidgeot knows me better than anyone else so…" He shrugged and snuggled closer to Pidgeot, who smiled contently.

Blaziken smirked. "So it's not just the odd trainer and freaks then."

May remained silent, but turned her head away from her partner.

Twilight got the feeling she had just touched on an uncomfortable subject. "Ok, moving on," She turned back to the mayor.

"I'm here to help Trottingham get acclimated, I guess, mostly just to check and make sure whatever attacked you-"

"An Aggron." Blaziken offered. "And don't worry, he's not coming back."

"It was amazing, Princess." The Mayor pushed into the room. "This huge metal dragon just starts rampaging through town and just when we think all is lost, these two," He pointed to May and Blaziken. "Show up and blast the thing with fire, it runs off like a foal, and that was two days ago."

"Right, Fire beats Steel." Twilight remembered.

"Is that why there are so many Pokémon around town?" Juniper asked. "Because of these two?"

The Mayor nodded. "Miss May explained the situation to us… well, she wrote out what had happened, with the humans and Pokémon."

"I can't use my Psychic powers very well yet." May slumped in her chair.

Blaziken put one hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry May, you'll get the hang of it." He said reassuringly. "You trained me, now it's my turn to help you."

May blushed softly as she looked at her Pokémon. She quickly looked away, causing Blaziken to sigh, as if he had been expecting that, and crossed his arms.

Twilight was beginning to piece together what was going on, but before she could say anything the receptionist burst into the room.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt but sir, they're at it again."

The mayor sighed. "This is the third time since yesterday." He looked guiltily to the Princess. "Your highness, I'm sorry to do this but I have to take care of some local business if you would-"

"Oh, it's not a problem," Twilight assured him, trotting out the door. "Princess Celestia has been teaching me what to do when it comes to these kind of situations."

The mayor's eyes went wide. "Your highness, I don't think that's such a good idea, you don't know-"

"Mayor, I appreciate the concern," Twilight said sincerely. "But I'm from Ponyville, I know how to deal with upset ponies."

Twilight pushed open the front door and was greeted by a small mob of ponies lead by a silver coated unicorn stallion with a bright blue, almost neon mane. A darker streak of sea blue ran the length of his mane and tail.

"Greetings, everypony," She used her magic to amplify her voice so she could talk over the crowd, not loud enough to startle anyone, but enough so that she could be heard. "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here on a mission from Princess Celestia to help the town of Trottingham with the recent… issues, involving the Pokémon." Twilight still didn't really like the idea of ordering ponies around or being called "your highness", although she had more or less gotten used to that one, but she was more than happy to use her title to convince ponies that she could help them.

Several of the ponies in the crowd seemed to relax when she said this but soon tensed up again. "Princess, behind you." The stallion at the front said warningly.

Twilight turned and saw the Juniper and the other Pokémon had exited the building. Blaziken and May had extremely annoyed expressions on their faces.

The Alicorn turned back to the crowd in confusion. "What, the Pokémon? Don't worry, they're fine."

May walked up to her. "Princess, these guys, or more specifically him," The Delphox pointed to the unicorn at the front. "Have been harassing us, and the other Pokémon, since we got here."

Twilight nodded, then turned to the stallion. "What's your name, sir?"

"Hard Proof, your majesty." He said with a bow. Twilight leaned a bit and saw that his cutie mark was a research web, the kind that police used when connecting evidence, or the kind she used when she studied an obscure branch of something or other.

"Well, Mister Proof, would you please tell me what it is you are doing?" Twilight, unfortunately, had a pretty good idea.

"Certainly, we were coming to petition the mayor to have these creatures removed from our fair town." Twilight noticed he didn't have an accent, in fact he sounded like he would be more at home Ponyville than Trottingham or Canterlot.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you sir but the Pokémon aren't going anywhere," The stallions smile dropped to a frown. "As sapient beings they have just as much right to be here as anypony else."

"But one of them nearly destroyed the town!" Somepony shouted from the back of the crowd.

"But two of them stopped it!" An onlooker defended.

"And how long until they turn on us, hmm?" Hard Proof asked. "You've seen one monster you've seen 'em all. And I say they're all no good!"

"Yeah!" The crowd shouted in agreement.

"Oh, do shut up, Paranoia, would you?" A Pegasus mare, with a Taillow perched on her shoulder, asked in a rather condescending tone.

Hard Proof gritted his teeth. "What did you say, Serenity?" He practically growled.

Serenity rolled her eyes. "You heard me, Paranoia. Shut. Up. And stop mobbing the mayor about harming these creatures."

Hard Proof's face was twisted in rage. "Don't call me that."

Serenity smirked. "Call you what? Parano-"

Hard Proof charged the Pegasus. Serenity just flapped her wings and gracefully ascended until she was out of his reach.

"Get down here!" He shouted.

"No," Serenity said calmly. "Every time something like this happens, I have to explain it to the police," She smirked. "After I kick your sorry flank."

Hard Proof scowled and looked around, seeing the Pokémon, his scowl deepened. "Can't you see? These things are monsters! No better than the Tartarus spawn of the Everfree." He lit up his horn and, before anyone could react, fired an energy bolt straight at the ground near the Pokémon's feet. He didn't hit them, but he startled them enough to caused May to fall backwards.

Then the crowd that had come with him, cheered, while the other citizens cried in rage, then all Tartarus broke lose.

Twilight put up a force field as the two groups turned on each other. "What the heck is happening?!" She asked the mayor, panic in her voice.

He sighed. "Hard Proof, or Paranoia as he's often called, is an extremely temperamental stallion who has problems trusting anyone, especially anyone who isn't a pony, and Miss Serenity, or should I say Serenity Acceptance, is a member of the Equestrian Peace Corps, she just got back from a goodwill mission in the Dragonlands."

Twilight sighed. "Ok, I have a plan but I'm going to have to drop the force field."

The group nodded. Although Blaziken was eyeing Hard Proof, the stallion watching them through the force field.

And the Fire-type had good reason, as soon as the force field dropped, a bolt of blue energy flew from the unicorn's horn, and hit May square in the chest.

Hard Proof smiled, then frowned, then tried to run as Blaziken quickly closed the gap between them.

The stallion squirmed in the Fighting-Type's grip, fear plastered on his face.

"You shouldn't have done that." Blaziken hissed.

Twilight activated her magic and began shouting. "Everyone please! Just calm down! We can work this out, but please! Just stop fighting!"

The only pony who had really been fighting was Hard Proof, the rest of the ponies were in a very heated shouting match with each other, but fortunately, no real damage was being done, except for the fact that Blaziken might've been crushing Hard Proof's windpipe.

Twilight's begging did very little to calm the ponies, or the enraged Fire-Type, but she continued to try.

That's when Juniper got an idea. The professor looked down at her hands, and the tri colored lights that now adorned them, she recalled that Beheeyem could use these lights to hypnotize people and Pokémon.

Normally, Juniper wouldn't have considered doing what she did next but seeing her friend freaking out as she failed to calm the crowd, and seeing Blaziken still holding Hard Proof by his neck, she took action.

The Psychic-type floated above the crowd and position herself so she was facing down. She then tapped into the newer portions of her vastly expanded mind and found the information need to do what she was about to do.

"_Twilight, Spike, close your eyes!"_ She called to her friends.

Then she began, the lights on her hands flashed red, green and yellow in a rapid succession. Twilight saw this and put a force field around herself and the others, including a still unconscious May.

Juniper smiled as she felt the power building inside of her, growing stronger and stronger until it erupted form her hands in a blinding flash of light as she cried. "Psychic!"

When the light finally died down, so too did the arguing, all the ponies were now standing completely still, blinking occasionally.

Blaziken dropped Hard Proof and the stallion lied on the ground limply as the Blaze Pokémon shook his head, the other Pokémon caught in the blast did likewise.

Twilight dropped her force field and trotted over to Juniper as the Beheeyem floated back down. "What did you do?" She asked in amazement.

"I used my powers to, well, refresh their minds, kinda like turning a computer off and back on again." Juniper explained.

"That works?" Twilight had seen computers before; Bio Chem used them, and his were some of the only ones in Canterlot, if not Equestria.

"Apparently." Juniper sighed in relief. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna pass out." The Beheeyem fainted and nearly hit the ground before Twilight caught her.

Twilight looked around and saw that everypony was slowly coming out of their pause, and that Blaziken was no longer choking Hard Proof, instead the Fire-type was kneeled over his trainer, who was beginning to come around, supporting her with one arm as he stroked her forehead with the other, and that Hard Proof was slowly standing himself up.

Before the Unicorn could do anything Twilight marched over to him, dragging the mayor with her. "Hard Proof," Twilight's voice was the voice of one who had been pushed from a very good mood to a very bad mood in a very short amount of time.

Then Twilight said something she had never even thought she would have to say. "You're under arrest for assault and disturbing the peace."

The stallion's eyes dropped and moaned under his breath. "Again?"


	21. Chapter 19

Twilight was pacing back and forth in the mayor's office. "This is bad, this is so, so bad."

Spike sighed, the Dragon was holding an ice pack to Professor Juniper's head. "Calm down Twi, I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Not that bad!" Twilight shouted. "Spike I arrested a stallion under false pretenses."

"False what now?" He asked.

"It means I arrested him for something he didn't do." Twilight explained.

Spike thought for a second. "Let's see, angry mob, attacked someone, nope, I don't see how you're in the wrong."

Twilight groaned. "I arrested him for assault, but technically a... what's May?"

"Delphox." Juniper mumbled, still rubbing her aching head.

Twilight nodded. "A Delphox isn't protected under Equestrian laws, it'd be like if I went into the Everfree and started blasting Timberwolves or Manticores for no reason, not really approved of but not technically illegal."

Spike shrugged. "Come on Twi, you're a Princess, I'm sure no one's gonna care about some little detail like that."

Twilight shook her head. "Spike, just because I'm a Princess doesn't mean I'm above the law."

"But you do make them... right?" Juniper asked groggily.

"Well... I suppose so, but why does that matter?"

"Because," Juniper pushed herself back into the air, groaning slightly. "You can just send a letter to Princess Celestia explaining the situation and have her pass a law that will give Pokémon some form of protection. We had them back on earth to stop cruelty towards Pokémon, among other things."

Twilight thought for a moment. "Juniper... that just might work, Spike take a letter."

* * *

Princess Celestia was... having a bad day had come and gone several times in the past three days, as had annoyed and just pissed off, at this point Celestia was intrigued to find that she was in a state of perpetually expecting the worst possible thing to happen.

"It honestly hadn't been this bad since Discord's rule." She admitted, Celestia had opened day court for the first time since the Pokémon's arrival, and had almost immediately regretted it. While the Eternal Sundial had calmed the populous a considerable amount, they still had questions, and many still wanted the Pokémon gone.

Fortunately the more... outspoken ponies had been curtailed in their complaints by the fact the Aegislash floated at Celestia's side and that Ninetales sat by the foot of her throne.

But as soon as Celestia thought everything was beginning to look up, Twilight sent her a message, it explained the situation in Trottingham and stressed that she was had run into some legal trouble since the Pokémon weren't technically protected under Equestrian equal rights law.

Once she had received the letter the solar Princess had ended day court and rushed to find her most trusted advisors in Equestrian law, she had retrieved Luna from her room, wondering why her sister seemed more tired than usual and brought her to the meeting room, where she had found a fair number of Equestrian officials already waiting, Celestia had only called them because it was an actual law she had passed after Nightmare Moon's banishment that she couldn't make a decision without input from an outside party.

This law had not accounted for Luna's return, or Discord's reformation, or even Cadence and Twilight's ascension. This meant that as long as Luna, Twilight, Cadence or Discord were present, then Celestia could pass just about any law that wasn't so ridiculously outlandish as to upset one of the others, and even for Discord Celestia had to try something pretty stupid for him to deny it, he might have had his grudges but the chaos lord hated politics far more than Celestia, and he loved messing with nobles.

Among the assembled beings were Olive Branch, head of the judicial system, Peace Treaty, head of international affairs, Arcane Glyph, the headmistress of Princess Celestia's School for gifted Unicorns, and a great many other ponies who had some standing in Equestria's government. Missing was Prince Blueblood, for whatever reason Celestia chose _not_ to look into that.

In addition there was one non pony present. Lord Mewtwo, ambassador to the Pokémon nation, sat in the chair next to the Princesses, to the horror of all those assembled save for the Princesses, and was basically unnerving almost everypony in the room.

"Thank you all for coming," Celestia began. "Now I don't have the time to beat round the bush so I'll get straight to the point of this meeting."

Everypony leaned in closer, except for Mewtwo. Celestia sighed. "I am considering passing a law that would give Pokémon the same protection given to all other sapient beings in the land of Equestria."

The council erupted in an uproar. _**"Silence!"**_ Luna shouted in the royal Canterlot voice. The council did as it was told, Celestia smiled, having Luna at her side always made these meetings easier, in more ways than one.

Celestia continued. "In light of recent events, and several meetings with Lord Arceus, I have decided that it is illogical to presume the Pokémon will disappear any time soon, thus we must begin to integrate them into Equestria, and that includes the giving them some form of rights."

"But Princess," Olive Branch began. "Legally speaking these creatures can't be-"

Mewtwo, sensing the stallion's train of thought, spoke up. _"Chose your next words very carefully."_ He warned.

The menacing tone stopped the stallion. "W-what I mean is, the populous might not immediately believe that all the Pokémon are sapient."

Peace Treaty looked to the stallion. "After a cosmic being announced to every creature on the planet that they were?" She asked in confusion. "I don't think anyone is that oblivious."

"I agree with Peace Treaty," Golden Bit, head of the treasury department chimed in. "I have to deal with the most stuck up, ignorant ponies in my line of work, and even they know that something big is happening."

Tactical Support, the new captain of the royal guard, spoke up. "But we know that some of these creatures are dangerous, what if they attack somepony?"

"The law that will protect the Pokémon will be the same that protects Ponies, Griffins and other beings, if they attack someone, then the legal repercussions will be the same." Celestia explained.

"I don't think this is the best idea your highness," Silvermane, head of Equine services said. "These creatures are clearly not as advanced as Ponies, and we shouldn't allow some of their more powerful members to bully us into submission."

Several of the assembled ponies mumbled in agreement, while the others rolled the eyes or scoffed, Mewtwo glared at the stallion and practiced some breathing techniques.

"Really now?" Arcane Glyph spoke up. "Because a... colleague, of mine has done brain scans of several of these Pokémon, all of them are quite clearly indicative of being sapient."

Silvermane chuckled. "I suppose you're referring to that stallion you have teaching genetics at your school... Bio Chem wasn't it?"

Arcane Glyph glared at him. "That's right, but I don't see why it matters who performed the scans, and he's not the only one."

"She's right you know." Doctor Helping Hoof, head of the health department added. "I've been getting scans and test results regarding these creatures for the past three days and the brain scans always show sapience."

Luna was about to add something when Silvermane spoke up again. "Yes, but sapience does not necessarily mean advancement, look at the Dragons, or the scattered Chimera, the Pokémon are basically the same, little more than advanced anim..."

The stallion suddenly stopped, noticing that no one else in the room was moving, even the Princesses had frozen, save for their ever flowing manes. "What's going on?" He asked aloud, then Mewtwo rose from his chair.

Celestia blinked as Silvermane suddenly stopped talking. "Is everything alright?" She asked, noticing the fear on his face.

The stallion's eyes widened. "Everything's f-fine Princess, I just didn't find it... necessary to go any farther as, umm, the evidence is stacked against me?" His eyes darted to Mewtwo for a split second, almost too fast for the Princess to see. "Yes, and I have already been disproven so... I withdraw my argument."

Celestia glanced at Mewtwo, the Pokémon wore the same stoic expression he normally had.

"Alright, then I believe it is about time to end this, who will support me in passing the law to allow equal rights to Pokémon?"

As was expected, Luna, Mewtwo, Peace Treaty and several other all raised their hooves, or hands. Surprisingly, Silvermane's hoof shot up before the Princess had even finished her sentence.

"Then it is settled, I will make the announcement later today once the new law is finished, you are all dismissed." With that the ponies all made for the door, Silvermane galloping out ahead of the rest. "Mewtwo?" Celestia said. "Please stay behind, I'd like to have a word in private."

The Genetic Pokémon remained seated, as if he had known this was coming.

"Sister," Luna pulled Celestia aside. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing Luna," Celestia assured her. "I'm just going to have a word with our ambassador."

Luna examined her sister for a second, then said. "Be careful sister, we know not what he is capable of." Before exiting the room, but remaining close by in case anything went wrong.

Celestia pushed the doors shut with her magic and turned to Mewtwo. "What did you do?" She asked, sounding slightly angry.

Mewtwo smirked. _"I've done nothing wrong Princess."_ He assured her.

"Oh, then Silvermane, the stallion who never admits defeat, and always puts his own thoughts ahead of everyone else's just decided that he couldn't win? I don't believe it." Celestia didn't know what the Psychic-Type had done but she wasn't going to let it slide.

Mewtwo rose from his chair. _"Princess Celestia... I've honestly done nothing wrong, surely if I had done anything to change the memories of those in the room, or temporarily shut down their mental functions, so that I could have a word with mister Silvermane, your own mental wards would have stopped me from doing the same to you?"_

Celestia gritted her teeth, she knew Mewtwo was powerful enough to bypass her and Luna's mental wards but had no idea to what extent. She knew Mewtwo had done something, but she couldn't prove it, and since whatever it was it hadn't done any real harm she basically had her hooves tied.

Celestia looked Mewtwo straight in the eyes. "I'm going to let this one go, if only because I didn't feel like dealing with Silvermane today, but mark my words, if something like this happens again, then I will not hesitate to reveal my full power." She smiled. "And _you_, while powerful, are most definitely _not_ a God."

Mewtwo chuckled. _"Very well Princess, you have my word,"_ He made for the door. _"And Lord Arceus will probably be showing up soon, he'll know about this law soon enough and he'll want a hand, or hoof, in writing it."_

Mewtwo mentally shoved the doors open and left, passing Luna on his way out.

"Well sister? How did it go?" The lunar Princess asked.

Celestia rubbed her temple with a hoof, then took it away with a smile. "Luna, alert the staff, we're about to have a _very_ important guest."

* * *

Arceus stepped through the door that led to Canterlot, and was surprised to find two royal guardsmen standing on either side of the door.

"_Greetings... I'm here to see the Princess."_

"The Princess is in the meeting room... she's expecting you." One of them began walking down the hall in the direction of the meeting room but Arceus stopped him.

"_No need, I know the way."_ Before either of the stallions could say anything, Arceus vanished in a flash of golden light, and reappearing in the meeting room in front of Princess Celestia.

"Greeting Lord Arceus." She greeted, not even looking up from the scroll she was writing on.

"_Hello Princess, you were expecting me?"_

"Yes," She replied calmly. "Mewtwo warned me that you'd be coming to help with the new law."

Arceus chuckled. _"Fair enough, now what have you gotten down so far?"_

Celestia smiled. "Oh, I haven't done _anything_ yet, I figured the responsible party should be present before I began."

"_Oh, quite right Princess, now let me see that."_ He pulled the scroll over to him, the completely blank scroll. _"Right..."_

"_How do I start this?"_ He thought to himself, it wasn't that Arceus didn't have experience in lawmaking, he had shaped time, space and nature, he had hoof wrote the laws of physics and nature with the help of his sons and daughter, but he had never interfered in mortal laws. True, his presence shaped the laws of man when they worshipped him, but after his imprisonment he had no influence on what the humans did.

Arceus sighed and floated the scroll back to Celestia _"... Why don't you get it started, I wouldn't want to interfere with your legal system too much."_

Celestia smiled, it seemed she had found something in which she outranked Arceus. "Very well," Celestia started writing out pre planned lines on the scroll. "Now I want to give the Pokémon the same protection the other races of Equus have, but the problem I'm facing is that some ponies still see them as monsters."

Despite himself, Arceus chuckled. "What about that is funny?" Celestia asked, unamused.

"_I just forgot how much other races put into imagery."_ The truth was that Arceus knew it was going to be a lot of work getting the Pokémon accepted by the races of Equus, especially ones like Gyarados or Metagross.

"_For instance,"_ Arceus concentrated for a moment and a screen appeared in front of Celestia, one showing Rayquaza, Groudon, Reshiram, Yveltal, Entei, and Darkrai. _"These are all members of the Legendary Council."_

Celestia sighed. "Sometimes I feel like you're making this harder than it has to be." When Arceus didn't answer she continued. "Look, the Pokémon are intelligent, but not everypony is going to believe that, isn't there anything you can do to help the integration?"

Arceus thought for a minute, then pulled a golden panel out of nowhere. _"Let's see... no, no, that's all kinds of illegal..."_

Celestia put down the finished rough draft of the law and looked at Arceus. "What are you doing?"

"_Looking over my options, I'd need the council for that one, or at least my daughters."_ Arceus dropped the panel. _"I'll figure something out, how's the law coming along?"_

Celestia glared at him. "Finished and don't give me that, if you really are a god,"

"_Do I need to prove it again?"_

Celestia gritted her teeth. "Then you'll be able to come up with a simple plan."

Arceus thought for a moment. _"I could turn the ponies-"_

"No."

"_Psychic rew-"_

"Don't even think about it."

Arceus glared at her. _"Well what do you propose?"_

A sly grin crept onto Celestia's face. "I'll think of something, now come with me, there's something I'd like you to see."

Arceus raised an eyebrow. _"No way am I going anywhere unless you-"_

Celestia lit up her horn and before Arceus could react, teleported them both.

"_-Tell me, what, you're, planning."_ Arceus found himself standing in the castle garden, in front of a dining table that had been set up there, the entire are looked like it was regularly used for parties, or he guessed, based on the thirty or so Ponies staring at him, including a smirking Princess Luna.

"Lord Arceus," Celestia said with a smirk. "Meet the nobles of Canterlot."

Arceus eyed the ponies at the table, other than Princess Luna he didn't recognize any of them, but he knew the type, he had been studying Canterlot government.

"_What is this?"_ He asked, staring down at Princess Celestia.

"Well I figured that if you were going to stay here you'd like to get to know the public, I took the liberty of drawing up a schedule." Celestia unrolled a scroll that nearly reached the ground.

"_... What makes you think I'll stay here? I can leave at literally any time I want."_ Arceus did not like dealing with nobles of any species.

Celestia smiled. "Oh, I know that, but I figured you would like to show some... appreciation, to the mare who's standing up for your subjects rights."

Arceus turned to the Princess, but said nothing, when he finally spoke he sighed and said. _"Good show Princess, I'll play your little game, for now."_

Arceus pulled out one of the seat at the front of the table, everypony was still staring at Arceus, mouths agape. Arceus leaned over to Luna. _"Do I say something or... what?"_

"Just introduce yourself," Luna said through a rehearsed smile. "Try and get on their good side, you know, be social."

Arceus sighed. _"I've been by myself in a space of infinite emptiness for the past several thousand years, my social skills are about as well exercised as a Snorlax."_

"What?"

"_I'm a God as old as time, I don't often socialize with mortals."_ Arceus snapped.

"Well try." Celestia shot back.

The three immortals smiled at the nobles, the turned awkwardly to the food that had been set before them.

"_This meal looks delicious Princess."_ Arceus, casually picked a fork and shot her a look. _"Too bad I can't eat anything."_

Celestia and Luna turned away from the god. "Told you." Luna whispered.

While the others ate, Arceus turned his attention to the nobles, most of whom were too nervous to eat._"Wonderful city, Canterlot."_ Arceus said absently. _"Although I haven't had much time to explore it,"_ He twiddled the fork in his telekinetic grasp. _"Been helping my family settle in."_

The Alpha Pokémon's attempts at conversation were met with less than stellar responses, they mostly unnerved the gathered ponies.

After another ten minutes or so the silence was still present and Arceus found himself wishing that Mewtwo were there, or anyone else.

Arceus was also incredibly annoyed that the staff continued to serve him food, even though he couldn't eat anything, as it was, Arceus was considering if he could grow a mouth when somepony finally spoke up, although they weren't at the table.

"Sorry I'm late everypony," Prince Blueblood said as he trotted up to the table. "I was held up by these dreadful ponies in the medical wing and I couldn't get away."

Blueblood pulled up an empty chair and smiled. "Anyhow, as I was saying..."

Blueblood saw Arceus and the stallions eyes widened in fear. "M, m, m, m, m, ..., ..., ...! ...?"

Arceus twirled a straw around in his glass as the nobles and both Princesses stared at Blueblood.

Luna turned to Arceus. "Did you do something?" She asked, no malice behind her voice, only curiosity.

"_No... maybe, so I may have disabled his vocal cords, even I know how irritating he can be so I may have taken a few precautions."_

"...! ...?!" Blueblood continued to futilely try and say anything.

Luna smiled. "Sister, I think I like this Blueblood, can we keep him?"

Celestia tapped her chin. "Tempting, but I think- Oh would you look at the time." Celestia looked at the sun. "Arceus, we're late for your next appointment, I'm sorry everypony but we must be off."

"...! ...!" Blueblood flailed his hooves wildly.

Celestia smiled and waved at the stallion. "Goodbye Blueblood, come along Arceus, Luna."

In a flash of gold the immortals disappeared, leaving the still mute stallion and the rest of the nobles alone.

* * *

Two Alicorns and a god flashed into existence in front of a multistoried building, they glanced at each other for a moment, the Luna burst out laughing, followed by her sister and finally Arceus.

"I cannot believe you did that!" Celestia cried, still laughing.

"_I can't believe you hadn't tried that already."_ Arceus replied.

"Twas most amusing indeed, now where are we?" It took Luna a moment to recognize the area, but once she did she smiled.

"This is step two in my plan to introduce Arceus to the public." Celestia replied, turning to the god with a smile.

"_No more nobles."_ Arceus stated. _"And where are we?"_

Celestia turned and walked towards the building. "I find the best way to get to know the public, and get on their good side, is to show them compassion."

Celestia pushed the doors to Princess Cadence Memorial Hospital and beckoned Arceus after her.

The Alpha Pokémon was forced to duck under the door. And found himself to be, once again, the center of attention in the waiting room.

"_Hello."_ He greeted them all casually.

Princess Celestia ignored her subjects shocked looks and walked up to the main desk. "Greetings Nurse Lovejoy, I set up a tour for a visiting dignitary earlier today."

Nurse Lovejoy, who was use to Princess Celestia's visits, just glanced at the god, who was shifting awkwardly under the eyes of the few dozen ponies in the room.

"Always glad to have you Princess."

Celestia walked back over to Arceus and her sister. "Come on you two."

Celestia led them down a hallway and up a few flights of stairs, the later led to Arceus complaining about something called an elevator, until they reached their destination.

"Luna, you know where we are, but Arceus, this is the children's ward." Celestia pushed the door open and revealed the floor to Arceus.

As the trio stepped into the room a large majority of the ponies on the floor turned and gawked at the god.

Celestia stepped forward and smiled. "Hello everypony, this is Lord Arceus."

The Alpha Pokémon bowed his head. _"Charmed."_

"I invited him here so he could get to know the public, please, don't mind us."

The hospital staff bowed, the Princesses were in here often enough that they had gotten used to it, although a God was new.

Celestia walked back over to Arceus. "Now that that's taken care of, why don't you two go mingle."

"_A God does not mingle."_ Arceus stated.

"As long as you're here, you do." Celestia told him, the look on her face implied just how serious she was. "You wanted my help? Well, this is how I'm gonna do it."

Arceus quickly glanced at the time stream, just to assure himself he couldn't get out of this, and sighed._"Fine."_

Arceus stepped around the Princess, who now wore a smirk on her face, and started to explore the floor.

"Tia, are you sure this is a good idea?" Luna asked.

Celestia just smiled. "Don't worry, he won't do anything stupid, now come along, let us go brighten up some foals day."

Arceus rounded a corner, grumbling to himself. _"A hospital, bah, I prefer those Pokémon centers,"_ The Alpha Pokémon pushed one of the doors open. _"I wonder where all those Joys got to anyway, I know I brought some with me."_

It was then that Arceus realized that he was being watched, watched by many sets of small, curious eyes.

"_Oh... hello there."_ Arceus greeted the few dozen foals who were scattered around the room he had walked into. _"Didn't mean to... disturb you."_

One of the little fillies, a yellow Pegasus with a green mane, walked up to him and stared at him, wide eyed. "Awe you a Pwincess?"

Arceus leaned down to the little filly. _"Little one, I am not a Princess, not only am I a male, I am a transdimensional deity who is responsible for the creation of an entire universe, does that sound like the work of a Princess?"_

The little filly tapped her chin, then smiled. "Uh huh."

Arceus chuckled and stood back up. _"Greetings children, I am Lord Arceus, creator of the Pokémon realm, and the reason the Pokémon are currently residents of Equus."_

That brought forth a lot of questions, most of which made Arceus smile, however after a while the Arceus excused himself and decided to do a more one on one thing. As the Alpha Pokémon entered one of the adjoining rooms he was greeted by a nurse checking up on a young Earth Pony colt.

"_What's wrong with him?"_ Arceus asked the nurse, the colt was hooked up to several different machines, and was fast asleep.

The nurse sighed. "He has a tumor in his brain, and even our best surgeons say that removing it would likely cost him his life," The nurse looked away from the young foal. "At this point, we're just trying to make him comfortable until..." She bit her lip.

Arceus raised an eyebrow and stepped past the nurse, the staff had been alerted to the Gods presence so they wouldn't worry unnecessarily.

Once he was past the nurse he raised his vision a few levels until he was in the x-ray range and he examined the colt, sure enough he had an abnormally large growth wrapped through several portions of his brain.

Arceus frowned. _"No one this young deserves to suffer like this."_

"I know but it's not like we can do anything about it." The nurse frowned. "I wish there was but..."

As the nurse continued Arceus blocked her out, and began channeling his powers, the Gods eyes glowed golden and his consciousness expanded across the room, into the colt, and through time and space, then he shifted it.

* * *

"I'm curious sister, just how do you lose a God?"

"Shut up Luna."

The Lunar Princess smirked as her distressed sister continued to search for Arceus who, somehow or another, had managed to evade them thus far.

"Maybe he left." Luna ventured. "He can teleport."

"No Luna, he's still here, I'm sure, Arceus may not like it all that much, but he needs our help, and he's knows that if he-"

"Princess!"

Both Alicorns turned and saw a doctor running towards them, a smile on his face. "You have to come see this, it's... I don't even know."

The stallion led the Princesses to another section of the hospital, the intensive care unit.

"Normally, I'd warn you just how gruesome what you're about to see is,"

"But?" Luna asked.

The doctor smiled. "But... you'll see." As he pushed open the door Celestia and Luna saw something that almost shocked them, almost.

"Well sister," Luna said with a smile. "It seems we have finally found Arceus."

Sure enough Arceus was in the ICU, surrounded by several dozen ponies, patients, nurses and doctors alike.

"Arceus," Celestia stepped forward. "What are you doing?"

Arceus looked up from a young mare in a wheelchair and turned to the Princesses. _"Ah, hello Celestia, Luna. you're just in time."_

"In time for what exactly? And what have you been up to?" Celestia asked.

Arceus smiled. _"You'll see,"_ The Alpha Pokémon turned back to the mare. _"Now hold still young one, this will only take a moment."_

Arceus' eyes began to glow gold, and Celestia sensed a large amount of power coming from Arceus. Then flow into the mare.

Once the power flow ceased and Arceus pulled away from the mare he said. _"Now get up."_

Slowly, and with a not a small amount of hesitation, the mare rose from her wheelchair. "I... I can walk!"

Arceus chuckled. _"Of course you can, if I can bend time and space to my whim, then I can easily fix a mortal's ailment."_

"But her spine," One of the doctors began.

"_Is now completely repaired,"_ Arceus answered. _"Honestly don't act so surprised, I pulled out a colt's tumor earlier,"_ Arceus thought for a second, then corrected himself. _"Actually I shifted time and space around the... oh you get the idea."_

Arceus walked through the crowd and over to the Princesses. "This is what you've been up to?" Luna asked in awe.

"But... doing this..." Celestia deadpanned. "It would tax even us, and,"

"_And the main reason you can't is because you can't do it for everyone in the country, I on the other hoof, am attempting to find a veritable army of nurses who'll be able to heal most ailments with their own... medication and powers, and will alert me for the cases they can't fix."_ Arceus had seen such ailments such as these on Earth and, before his banishment, the ailing would have been brought to a temple for healing, Mew was an expert in childbirth, Meloetta's Heal Bell could cure almost anything, Mewtwo or the Lake Trio were more than capable of rewriting mental illnesses and Cresselia was well versed in curing nightmares, as well as more... emotional ailments.

"But you cannot possible be there for everypony, every time." Luna argued.

Arceus shrugged. _"True, but I can split myself into multiple portions of myself, similar to how you handle the dreamscape."_

Celestia and Luna gawked at the God. "You... I just," The solar Alicorn took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "I guess you're doing the right thing here Arceus... so why does it feel like you're taking the easy way out."

Luna examined Arceus closely. "Mayhaps because his powers allow him to perform quote, unquote, miracles."

Arceus rolled his eyes. _"First off, they are miracles, secondly, and I tire of repeating myself, I created an entire universe, compared to that, even creating life is child's play, let alone fixing some minor injuries and ailments."_

Celestia was about to say something about but Arceus interrupted her. _"And before you say it I'd like to point out that not only are my Pokémon much more durable than your ponies, but that as a God even a wound that might kill either of you likely wouldn't do the same to me."_ Truthfully Arceus had never really considered his own death a possibility, he was born before time, and he expected to outlast it, regardless of which dimension he lived in.

"Arceus... I really don't know what to say." Celestia in no way wanted to stop the God from doing good, especially since it had kinda been her idea, but she still felt like something was... not wrong but... off, in the way in which he went about it. "Just..." She saw the hospital staff eyeing her and Arceus. "Can you finish this up?" She whispered.

"_Of course Princess, just a moment."_ Arceus concentrated and pulled the Mind Plate from his dimension. _"Work Up,"_ Arceus whispered, boosting his attack. _"Heal Pulse."_

The Alpha Pokémon pumped a lot more power into the healing wave than any normal Pokémon could. The strengthened attack rushed throughout the hospital, seeping into every Pony in the building. _"My work here is done, thank you Princess Celestia, this was... enlightening."_

The Pokémon God disappeared in his signature golden flash, leaving the Princesses to deal with the Ponies.

"Tia?" Luna asked, looking around at the slightly shocked and still smiling ponies. "Did Arceus actually do the right thing this time?"

Celestia looked at the mare Arceus had healed, she was trotting shakily around the room, tears of joy rolling down her face. "I think so Luna," Celestia answered, a tear of her own falling to the ground. "I really think so."


	22. Chapter 20

"Uhh… Gene, are you sure this is gonna work?" Applejack asked as the Gallade finished tying down the Steelix. The Steel-type was being held down by a combination of chains, ropes – mostly lassos – and Belle's psychic power.

While the force being used to keep the Steelix contained was a fair amount, most of the beings present feared it wouldn't be enough, which was why Fang and Draco were standing nearby in case anything needed to be burned or smashed.

"Well," He began. "No, I actually have no idea what's going to happen."

"That ain't very reassuring." Applejack said with a frown.

"Hey, I'm doing the best I can here, if you have a different plan to hold the giant thirty foot steel snake. I'll be happy to hear it."

Applejack remained silent.

"Alright," Gene sighed as he finished shoving the last stake into the ground. "I think that's about it."

"Great," Applejack trotted over to Gene. "Now we just have to wait for it to wake up."

"Or we could knock." Gene walked up to the Steelix's head, and knocked twice against the skull, it echoed slightly as he did but nothing else happened.

"Well, that was completely pointless." Belle said. "Now what?"

Gene looked around. Sheriff Silverstar, Braeburn, and Little Strongheart had gone back to town in case anything went wrong.

"I don't know," Gene answered. "I thought he'd wake up by now."

"Ya know, ah get ya'll are surprisingly durable or whatever, but ya did throw him twenty feet straight up."

Gene shrugged. "It's a Steel and Ground-Type, it really should've-"

"Grahhh!"

"Never mind." The Steelix tried to push itself up, only to be stopped by the chains that wrapped around its body and Belle's psychic strength.

"What in the…" He saw Gene and the others standing in front of him. "Why you little-"

"Oh just save it." Fang snapped. "Or do we have to teach you a little thing or two about respect?"

"Heel, boy." Gene said jokingly.

The Steelix raised an eyebrow at this. "Who are you, Gallade who commands these Pokémon?"

Gene sighed. "That's a long story, but it involves Arceus and humanity."

The Steelix made rumbled nervously. "Lord Arceus? You have met the creator?"

"Yes," Belle answered. "A few times now, actually; which reminds me, you heard his announcement didn't you?"

"Little Gardevoir, I do not believe there is a being on this planet who did not hear Lord Arceus' voice."

"Then why were you trying to attack us?" Applejack asked. "You came at me and my cousin and then made towards town like one big disaster."

Steelix rumbled in annoyance. "I was... upset, enraged, I have lived in my mountain for over two hundred years and now..." The Steel-Type looked at his surrondings in disdain. "I hate the desert, it does horrible things to my skin's luster."

Applejack turned to Gene and Belle. "Ah'm confused, what's he whinin' 'bout?"

"He doesn't like the desert," Gene restated. "And he's upset at being pulled from his long time home."

Steelix raised an eyebrow. "Just who are you, strange Gallade? You are not like any Pokémon I have encountered before, and I am over two hundred years old."

Gene rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, ya see… look, that doesn't matter right now, what's important is that you don't attack the ponies, or buffalo, or anyone else really."

Steelix grumbled. "I will leave this place, the mountains are my home, but only once you explain why these Pokémon obey you."

Gene sighed. "Fine, Draco and Fang listen to me because I'm their Trainer, or was their Trainer? I don't know, Arceus brought a bunch of the 'pure' humans when he brought the Pokémon here. That's what he meant when he was talking about those who were kind and good despite all the old world threw at them." Gene didn't think he would ever feel comfortable talking about his humanity, or how he had chosen not to try and regain it.

Steelix was silent for a moment, then he rumbled. "Let me up."

Belle looked to Gene, who nodded, and released her psychic hold, once she did it took about five seconds for Steelix to dislodge or snap all the ropes and chains. As the Steel-Type reared to his full height he looked down at Gene and the others once more, before launching forward into the ground and shooting off towards the distant mountains.

"Huh," Applejack stared at the hole the Steelix had made. "Fer some reason ah thought that was goin' ta be a lot more difficult… and violent."

Belle shrugged. "Even the most monstrous can be negotiated with, or most of them at least."

"Ah guess so," Applejack conceded. "Now what? Next train back home ain't 'til tomorrow."

"Then I guess we're staying in town tonight." Gene said as he began walking towards town. "Come on, let's hope the sheriff explained what's going on."

Belle quickly caught up with her mate, once she did she clasped his hand in hers and smiled. For whatever reason, Gene had been in a very positive mood since they got off the train, and, since their emotions often leaked across their bond, Belle was likewise in a good mood. "Poké for your thoughts." She said sweetly.

"Just how long have those two been together?" Applejack asked Fang, walking behind the pair.

Fang grinned. "Almost ten years now, and they've been mates for six."

Applejack watched as the two talked, smiling and laughing. "You mind if ah ask you two somethin'?" Applejack turned to Fang and Draco, the Houndoom plodding alongside her and the Flygon hovering just over head.

"Sure," Draco answered. "What is it?"

Applejack looked back to Belle and Gene again. "Ah know how most humans feel 'bout their relationship, but Ah'm a might curious of what ya'll think."

Draco smiled. "I couldn't be happier for them." He looked to Applejack. "I consider Gene my hatch-mate, as I had none before, in human terms that's a... brother, and I'll protect him and Belle no matter what."

"Same here." Fang answered. "Minus the hatch-mate thing, most Pokémon don't see a problem when a human and Pokémon become mates, we don't put that much emphasis on species."

Applejack nodded. "Then why were the humans so against it? Did ya'll really have that little say?"

The Pokémon's moods visibly darkened. "Psychic Pokémon are a little luckier than the rest," Draco admitted. "Telepathy at least lets them prove they're intelligent, although as I'm sure you've been told that wouldn't matter in their case." The Dragon Pokémon gestured to Belle and Gene.

"But for most Pokémon," Fang continued. "Pokémon had pretty much no say whatsoever, and very limited equal rights." Fang grumbled the last part. As a Dark-type, he had experienced just how cruel the world could be, until Gene found him.

"The humans started the whole… Poképhilia thing, the hatred towards it, after some incident in the Kalos region a few thousand years ago." Draco said.

"What happened?" Applejack inquired.

"The short version?" Fang said. "Some king loved his Floette so much that when she died he built a machine to bring her back to life, that machine drained the life force of a good percentage of that region's Pokémon and…" Fang sighed. "The Kalosians connected that to the king's love for his Floette. You can probably guess where things went from there."

"It's stupid." Draco huffed. "Gene was nearly inconsolable after those police crashed his wedding."

"And Belle was even worse." Fang added.

"Wow," Applejack said, impressed. "You two certainly know a lot 'bout this."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Blame Mage, she's the one interested in all of this."

"Who now?" Applejack asked.

"Mage is another member of our team," Fang explained. "She's into history and magic and all of that."

As Applejack asked the Pokémon a few more questions, Belle and Gene were having a conversation of their own. "Gene… you're really ready for that?" Belle asked, her heart filling with joy.

Gene nodded. "Hey, we're staying here, and I'm staying like this. Plus…" He smiled at her. "I love you and after our wedding–"

Belle silenced him by pulling him into a kiss. _"I get it,"_ She said. _"And I'm looking forward to it, all of it, as long as you're by my side."_

Gene broke the kiss and smiled at her. "Always."

Scootaloo hummed the Crusader's tune to herself as she stapled one of Pinkie's invitations to a tree. The little Pegasus had just given an invitation to Zecora, and a… Pokémon, that was staying with her, and, since she had passed out or hung up invitations all over town, she was now hanging up a few in the Everfree, so any Pokémon there could see them.

Scootaloo had originally been mildly scared of going into the Everfree, even if the path to Zecora's was relatively safe during the day, but once she had seen the state of the forest, she became less sure.

It looked like the woods themselves were at war. Trees would slowly, almost too slowly to see, change shape, either twisted, gnarled trunks, or straight, proud and tall. Prickly vines crept on to the path, only to wither and die.

Zecora had said it was most likely due to the explosion the other day, which she said released both chaotic and orderic energy in great quantities.

As Scootaloo finished hanging one of the invitations she turned back to her scooter and prepared to take off, then she heard buzzing. It sounded like a giant bee's wings, and for a moment Scootaloo thought it would be one of the Pokémon from Sweet Apple Acres, once she turned around, her heart dropped.

Standing on the path, looking at the invitation, was a bipedal creature that looked vaguely like a cross between a praying mantis and a lobster. It was rust red and its exoskeleton shined like polished steel, a pair of translucent blue wings sprouted from plates on its back and a three point crest topped its head. But what really drew Scootaloo's attention were its claws. The sharp, lobster-like claws were made all the more eerie by the yellow markings on both sides, making them look like the mouths of some creature.

And it was reading the invitation. Scootaloo gulped and stepped backwards, trying to make it to her scooter before-

_Snap!_

Scootaloo froze as she stepped on a twig, the Scizor looked up and then turned around. "Scizor?"

"Aahhhh!" Scootaloo jumped on to her scooter and rocketed off, leaving a very confused Bug-type by itself. The Pincer Pokémon just shrugged and turned back to the invitation.

Scootaloo, now a safe distance down the path, had stopped riding and was panting as she leaned on a tree. "What was that?" She asked herself.

When no one answered Scootaloo just sighed and grabbed another invitation from her cart, she walked over to a small tree just on the side of the road. Scootaloo pulled off a piece of tape and stuck it to the paper, then attached it to the tree. The filly took a second to make sure the invite was secure, then she nodded and hopped back on her scooter, heading further back towards Ponyville.

Once Scootaloo had vanished from sight, the tree opened one of its eyes. "Sudo?" The Sudowoodo looked down at the paper that had been taped to its chest, then smiled as it headed off to spread the news. "Sudowoodo!"

Once more Scootaloo had stopped and was hanging up one of the last invitations, she figured she could just post the last few around Ponyville, then she heard the crying.

Scootaloo looked in the direction of the sound and saw it was coming from off the path, now considering where she was, and what had just happened a few minutes before, most foals, and ponies in general, would not have crawled through a thicket of brambles to see who or what was crying, Scootaloo was not most ponies.

Once she had made it throat the thicket she finally saw the source of the crying, a baby Dragon, or that's what it looked like to Scootaloo, the creature was in fact a young Charmander.

"Are you alright?" Scootaloo asked.

The Charmander, who had been sobbing into his hands, looked up suddenly. "Char!" It cried, taking a few steps back.

"Hey, it's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you." Scootaloo told it.

The little Fire Pokémon sniffled. "Char?"

Scootaloo walked up to the Pokémon, but jumped back when she noticed its tail. "Uhh, you're on fire." She pointed out.

"Charmander." Charmander waved his tail back and forth, a confused look on his face.

Scootaloo tapped her chin. "Oh, I get it, you're one of those Pokémon, right?" Charmander nodded. "I thought you were a dragon, you kinda look like one."

Charmander sighed.

"What's wrong?" Scootaloo asked.

"Char…" He said sadly.

Scootaloo looked around the clearing and, seeing no one, asked. "Are you all alone out here?"

Charmander sniffled again, which basically confirmed it for Scootaloo. The little Pegasus had been an orphan herself, until she was adopted and her family moved to Ponyville, so she understood how the little Pokémon was feeling.

Scootaloo thought for a second, then got an idea. "Hey, you wanna come stay with me?" She asked with a smile.

"Char?"

"Yeah, I can't really leave you alone out here and besides, my mom loves animals." Scootaloo winced when the term slipped past her lips, remembering what Arceus had said yesterday.

Charmander, however, didn't seem to care. He ran up to Scootaloo and hugged the little Pegasus. Scootaloo smiled and hugged him back, as she led the little Fire-type out of the clearing and back to her scooter, two things crossed her mind. One, how was she going to explain having a flaming Pokémon to her parents, and two, how jealous would it make Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle hummed the Crusader tune to herself as she trotted out of the Ponyville pet supplies store. The little unicorn wasn't sure what Pinkie Pie wanted with… She looked down at her list.

"Fish food, cat food, dog food, bird seed, and meal worms." She winced as she remembered the cashier handing her the container with the bugs. "Check," She smiled as she crossed off the items, then read on. "Let's see, that's carrots, candy, candy carrots, watermelons, oranges, pears, chocolate, assorted pet food... huh," She said with the smile.

"That leaves peanuts and," She looked at the last item on the list in confusion. "Gemstones Rock candy… I suppose that's for Spike." Sweetie Belle shrugged and trotted off towards Sugarcube Corner, she knew Pinkie had a bunch of rock candy left over from her sister's visit, and she had asked Rarity if she wanted any for her dresses.

As she trotted through town, she noted just how many Pokémon were out and about. There were a bunch of oddly large and oddly colored birds, a few weird bugs, although Sweetie thought the green caterpillars were kinda cute, and a couple of odder things, including what looked like a rock, with arms and a face but no legs that was hopping around a small rock garden.

As Sweetie Belle crossed over a bridge she saw something in the river, it was a silhouette just under the surface, long and serpentine, with two bright glowing eyes, it quickly disappeared. Sweetie Belle shivered and wondered what kinda creepy snake thing it was, then she smiled.

Sitting on the banks of the river Sweetie saw a small blue, orange and yellow turtle, it was sitting on the bank, kicking its feet it the water and smiling, when it saw Sweetie Belle it waved at her. Sweetie Belle giggled and waved back.

"Squirtle." It cried, waving again.

"Hi!" She called back.

The Squirtle smiled, then dove into the river. Sweetie Belle sighed as she looked for the Pokémon in vain, then continued on her way to Sugarcube Corner. Just before she walked off the bridge however, she was stopped when she heard a soft splash, followed by what sounded like something from one of the video games her friend Button played.

_Clonk!_

Sweetie Belle whirled around and saw the Squirtle lying on its back, struggling to stand itself upright. The filly giggled again. "Here, let me help." She trotted over to the distressed Pokémon and helped stand it up.

"Squirtle, Squirtle!" It cried happily.

"Hi… again." Sweetie said with a smile. She looked over the edge of the bridge and judged the distance to the water. "Did you jump up here?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Squirtle." Squirtle nodded in affirmative.

"Just so you could meet me?"

"Squirtle squirt." Another nod.

Sweetie Belle smiled. "You know you could've met me on the other side of the river right?"

Squirtle paused, considering that, then he looked down bashfully. "Squirtle..."

Sweetie giggled again. "That's alright, I mean, you're not hurt are you?"

The Tiny Turtle Pokémon shook his head, then knocked on his shell. "Squirtle, Squirtle squirt."

Sweetie Belle looked at the little Pokémon, then back at the list Pinkie had given her. "Tell ya what, I've gotta finish getting some supplies for a party I'm helping with," Squirtle looked down, obviously disappointed. "But," She continued. "Once I'm done getting these last few things I'll introduce you to my friends and we can play, alright?"

Squirtle nodded happily and ran up to Sweetie Belle, he gave the little unicorn a quick hug before releasing her and smiling again.

"Alright," Sweetie said with a laugh. "Come on."

As the pair headed for Sugarcube Corner, Sweetie Belle considered how she was going to tell her friends about her new friend.

Apple Bloom let out a dissatisfied groan as she collapsed on the ground, she had been following Discord's instructions for the past few hours and she was tired. "Who knew party planning took so much work?" She thought to herself, although Apple Bloom was fairly certain at least half of Discord's instructions were unnecessary, even if he kept reading off the list Pinkie gave him.

As Apple Bloom lied in the shade of a tree, taking a break, she heard rustling in the branches, she opened her eyes to see a group of black… things, hanging there, each one of the bore a coat of leaves and had two twigs were its legs might've been. "Burmy?"

Apple Bloom just rolled on to her legs and walked off a bit. "Some of these Pokémon are just plain odd." She said aloud. Just then, a group of three monkeys, one green, one blue, and one red, scampered past. Once Apple Bloom found another tree she promptly laid down and closed her eyes. "Just five minutes." She mumbled.

Apple Bloom wasn't exactly physically exhausted, she worked harder than this on the farm most days, but taking random directions from the Lord of Chaos was enough to tire out anypony, or most ponies at least, barring Pinkie Pie.

Once again Apple Bloom laid in the shade of the tree, and once again she was interrupted by a rustling, although this time it was from the bushes. The filly cracked an eyelid and saw a Pokémon coming out of the bushes.

It was short and blue, with green spots on its body, most of its form consisted of the large green bulb that sprouted from its back. The Bulbasaur noticed Apple Bloom and looked at her curiously, it walked up to the Pony and sniffed her mane.

"Saur?" It said, as if confused, it sniffed Apple Bloom's mane again. "Bulba, Bulbasaur." It said to Apple Bloom.

"What do you want?" Apple Bloom asked in exasperation, tired of being interrupted. "Ah'm tryin' to take a break."

"Bulba, Bulbasaur, Saur Bulba Bulbasaur."

"Uhhh… come again?" She asked, wondering what the Seed Pokémon had just said.

"…Saur?" Suddenly, a tentacle, no, a vine emerged from the base of the bulb on Bulbasaur's back, it snaked through the air and towards Apple Bloom, where it wrapped around a chunk of her mane and held it slightly aloft. "Bulba?"

The filly thought for a second, wondering what it was trying to say, then she remembered something Belle had said the other day. "Does mah mane smell like apples?" She ventured.

The Grass-Type nodded, the cocked his head slightly. Apple Bloom laughed lightly at the little creatures antics. "Mah family runs an apple farm, Sweet Apple Acres, so ah guess it comes with the job er somethin'."

Bulbasaur nodded and released Apple Bloom's mane, its vines retreating back into its body. It then promptly sat down next to Apple Bloom. The filly sighed and shifted slightly to get more comfortable.

"Fine, you can stay… but ah gotta get back to work soon… or maybe not, it is Discord." Apple Bloom was surprised to see the Draconequus working so diligently on something that wasn't chaos related. Then again, it was a Pinkie party; anything could happen. Anything.

As Apple Bloom contemplated the Lord of Chaos, she felt something wrap around her body and looked over to see that Bulbasaur had one of its vines wrapped around her shoulder. It was smiling at her too.

Apple Bloom couldn't help but smile back, then she remembered something that Discord had mentioned, what Gene had done back on Earth.

"It does have a nice ring to it." She admitted. "Ah'll see what Sweetie and Scootaloo think about it when they get back."

Fluttershy smiled as she gave out the last of the food she had prepared for the Pokémon.

"Thank you, Fluttershy." Oshawott said with a grin as he accepted the bowl of fish.

As the little otter ran into the living room to join the other Pokémon, Fluttershy turned to the only Pokémon in the house she hadn't fed. "Are you sure you don't want anything, Duskull?" She asked the Ghost-type.

"No thank you, Fluttershy, I do not require such sustenance." Fluttershy was beginning to worry she was doing something wrong with the Requiem Pokémon, she decided to ask Misty about raising Pokémon when the former human got back.

As Fluttershy trotted into the living room, Duskull floating behind her, she smiled at all the little Pokémon, Shinx and Skitty were sitting next to each other on the couch across from all three of the Eevee sisters, Snivy sat by himself in one of the chairs and Yanma was perched on the edge of the table. Togepi was sitting with Oshawott and Cubone, and the Joltiks were still on the ceiling.

Fluttershy smiled at all the little Pokémon. Upon coming home, the mare had decided that they were more similar to foals than her animal friends, most of whom were still unsure of the Pokémon. Angel was upstairs, eating his meal in peace. Once more, Fluttershy worried about how the Pokémon's presence would affect the animals; she really hoped Arceus had a plan.

As Fluttershy watched the Pokémon eat, more pleasant thoughts entered her mind. _"They really are sweet,"_ She thought. _"How could these little cuties ever harm anything?"_

Fluttershy still had trouble believing that all Pokémon, even the little ones before her, had powers similar to Belle's to some extent, and that they could change appearance as drastically as Belle had.

When Gene had explained evolution, in the Pokémon sense of the word, she couldn't believe it, and upon seeing Belle's former form… she hadn't thought about it much at the time as she had been preoccupied with trying to accept how Pokéballs worked, and later heavily berating Discord on the subject, but she was shocked that a living creature could go through that. Sure, there were similarities between them but in the same way a foal looks like their parents.

Fluttershy was pulled from her thoughts as she felt something pawing at her leg, she looked down to see one of the Eevee sisters staring up at her, the other two sitting just behind their sibling. "Fluttershy?" She asked, wagging her tail. "Will you play with us?"

The Pegasus had to hold herself back from scooping up the little fox and hugging her. "Of course, sweetie," She said with a smile. "How about hide-and-seek? I'll count to ten, and you hide."

"Ok!" She cried happily.

Fluttershy covered her eyes with a hoof and began counting. "One… two…" Fluttershy heard a large number of paws and feet shuffling, wings buzzing, and legs scuttling. By the time she reached ten and uncovered her eyes she wasn't surprised to see that all the Pokémon, except for Snivy and Duskull, had hidden themselves. _"Oh, yes,"_ Fluttershy thought as she began her search. _"Just like raising foals."_


	23. Chapter 21

Korrina sat on a secluded portion of Sweet Apple Acres, staring down at her paws. "I can't freakin believe this." She said to herself.

After they had explained where Applejack was to Miss Smith and Big Mac, Korrina had snuck away from Lucario; she needed some space to clear her head. Korrina wanted to believe that she would get her body back, that she wouldn't have to spend her life as a Pokémon, but whenever she compare Arceus to Princess Celestia the odds seemed stacked against her.

"Maybe Princess Twilight knows a spell or something?" Korrina knew next to nothing about magic, but she was willing to try anything if it gave her some semblance of her old life back.

Korrina pushed herself up. "Stupid... why'd he have to drop us here?" The former Gym Leader was... grateful that Arceus had seen fit to bring her along, but she wished that he had given her a choice.

She looked down at her paws again, glaring at them she said. "I'm not going to live like this." Through gritted teeth. Whirling around, she started hitting one of the apple trees.

"I'm,"

**Thud!**

"A,"

**Thud!**

"Human,"

**Thud!**

"Being!"

The tree shook with each blow, and on the last strike the apples fell, one of them bouncing off of Korrina's helmet.

Korrina stood there for a moment, panting, until someone from behind her spoke up.

"You alright?"

Korrina whirled around to see Big Mac standing there, concern clear on his face. Korrina crossed her arms and turned away. "Yeah, fine."

Big Mac sighed. "Ya know, ah may not be as honest as my sister, but ah can still tell when someone's lyin' ta me... and ta themselves."

Korrina grumbled something under her breath but Big Mac ignored her and continued. "Now ah don't know exactly what's goin' on with ya, but one thing ah can tell is that it's stressin' you out somethin' fierce, so why don't you talk about it?"

"You... you wouldn't understand." Korrina hung her head.

Big Mac shrugged. "Maybe, but it can still help if'n ya talk about it."

Korrina looked at the stallion quizzically, then sighed. "I, I just don't feel right anymore." She admitted. "This isn't me; I'm a human, not a Pokémon."

Big Mac remained silent, the stallion was use to helping his sisters and some of his friends through their problems, emotional, social, but he had no idea how to help Korrina. "Well... is there anything you can do that you haven't already tried?"

Korrina shrugged. "Princess Celestia said she would try to get Arceus to fix this but..."

"But?" Mac inquired.

"But Arceus is, and no offense to your ruler or anything, older and probably wiser than the Princesses, at least in some ways, and he's definitely more powerful."

Mac nodded. "Did you try askin' him ta fix ya? Tell him why?"

Korrina sighed. "Twice, and he just calmly shrugged the question off, usually using Gene and Belle to counter my argument."

"How so?"

Korrina was silent for a moment

"Korrina?"

"It's a racial thing alright!?" She answered. "He kept using the fact that I don't really approve of their relationship against me and if I argued then I'd look like a dick in front of the Princesses."

Mac raised any eyebrow. "You don't approve of their relationship? How come? They seem like a right nice pair, looked real happy together too."

Korrina slumped against a tree trunk and slid to the ground. "Cause humans aren't supposed to love Pokémon like that."

Big Mac's eyes widened as he realized he had stumbled across a social taboo of some sort. "Well, ah... but Gene ain't really a human anymore."

"Yeah, and that's the problem!" Korrina shouted. "Cause he doesn't want to be human again, and how can I freakin' blame him! Even I have to admit that they just seem so happy now, and if I try to take that from him what kinda person am I?" Korrina remembered how, when the Officer Jennies had come to her gym looking for Gene, she had barely batted an eye as she pointed them the way he had gone.

"And it doesn't help hearing that some of the most influential people on my world, the freakin' Champions! Iris, Cynthia even! Knew about him and Belle and actually supported them." That had been the last straw for the Gym leader, hearing that both the Sinnoh and Unova champions had helped Gene and Belle for years, along with Professor Juniper and she assumed several others.

Big Mac shifted nervously, and then he took a deep breath and began. "Look, I ain't gonna throw my own opinion at ya, ain't gonna pretend to understand, and ah ain't gonna tell ya that everything's gonna be alright when ah rightfully have no idea if it is or isn't."

"Some pep talk." Korrina mumbled under her breath.

"But what ah am gonna say is this, ya shouldn't let anyone else's choices influence yer own, and don't let others use them against ya, if ya want somethin', then ya work for it and if it really is impossible, then at least ya know ya tried yer hardest." He smiled, and Korrina looked up at him.

"I... I don't know what to say." Korrina admitted. "I mean, I guess you're right but... I don't want to admit that there's a chance that... that..."

"That things'll never go back to normal?" Mac ventured. "Honestly, since it seems that y'all are gonna be stayin' on Equus ah don't think it will, whatever body ya stay here in though... like ah said, don't give up and then you'll see what happens."

Korrina was silent for a moment. "I... thanks Mac." She said with a small smile. "I think that maybe that did help a little bit."

Mac smiled. "Anytime, although you might wanna consider talking ta Lucario, he's probably just as confused as you are." _"Or more so, in some ways."_

Korrina pushed herself off the ground. "Yeah, you're probably right," Her somber expression turned to a grin. "And sitting here feeling sorry for myself isn't gonna fix anything."

Mac chuckled as Korrina ran past him back towards the farm. "Reminds me a bit of AJ, or maybe Rainbow Dash." He chuckled again. "If'n I'm right then that boy's got his work cut out for him."

Mac started picking up the apples that Korrina had knocked to the ground, whistling as he did.

* * *

Rainbow Dash flew over Cloudsdale as she made her way through her old home town. Rainbow Dash had already visited her parents, and had explained what was going on to them. They had both been worried about her and her friends but after Rainbow explained further... well they were still worried but that's how most parents are.

Dash was considering where to go next, and was leaning towards heading back to Ponyville and letting Bio Chem explain everything to the Princess. That was when she saw the smoke; actually smog would've been a more accurate descriptor.

Rainbow Dash landed on the edge of the smog bank and saw that all the ponies around her were coughing. Rainbow noticed a team of paramedics and quickly flew over to them. "What happened? Some kind of chemical leak?" Her father had once told her that the weather plant use to spring leaks from time to time, but it hadn't happened since before Rainbow had been born.

One of the medics, a pegasus mare with a white red coat and a white mane, shook her head. "No... not a chemical leak it's... some kind of... creature."

Rainbow thought for a second, then inquired. "A Pokémon?"

"Probably," the mare answered. "But we can't even see it clearly 'some kind of floating blob' that's what the ponies we pull out keep saying."

"Nurse Tenderhoof!" One of the doctors called. "We need you over here!"

"Sorry, I gotta go." As the nurse fluttered off Rainbow looked back at the smog bank, she vaguely remembered Professor Juniper mentioning something about Poison-type Pokémon being a thing, not that that would help her now.

Rainbow thought for a second, then took to the air, flying just above the noxious cloud. "Hey!" She called into the toxic fog. "Whatever you are, cut it out already! You're hurting ponies!"

No response came, save for something that sounded like wheezing, and Dash took that as a sign to move on with her brilliant, on-the-spot, plan.

Dash flew to the edge of the cloud and flared her wings, concentrating, she compacted air molecules beneath them and...

**Whomp!**

The airwave blasted forth and hit smog bank, dissipating it and thinning it out.

Dash smiled; at least whatever this was wasn't magical. That would've made things a lot more difficult.

Dash continued her assault for a few more minutes, but as she did whatever was in making the smog continued to belch more out.

"Come on already!" Dash cried in exasperation. Throwing extra power into her next strike, she managed to clear away enough smog to get a clear view of the creature, and it almost made Rainbow sick.

The creature was a floating blob, as had been described, but it looked more like a toxic floating rock, the wide mouthed face and sunken eyes made Rainbow think of the trolls she'd seen in Twilight's monster books, but what made Rainbow feel sick was its head, or more specifically, heads.

The second, smaller head was directly fused to the larger one, and both wore an almost vacant expression, the smog that jetted irregularly from its bulbous body and the skull and cross bones beneath its faces only made Rainbow Dash more nervous.

"What are you?" She whispered.

"We are Weezing." The two heads rasped. "And who are you?" Their voices overlapped and the larger one sounded like it had been smoking for years, deep and gravelly, while the other one was shrill and scratchy.

"The name's Rainbow Dash, and what are you... two, doing?"

"We are-" The Weezing suddenly made a hissing sound, like air escaping a balloon, and released a large amount of toxic gas. "Pain... can't stop..." It said in almost a whimper. "R... Rocket."

Rainbow Dash began flapping again, attempting to drive the gas back, this time too little avail, and began thinking up other options. "Where are the Wonderbolts when you need them?" She asked herself.

Then Dash got an idea, an idea that at the time, seemed relatively reasonable, but in hindsight, was really, _really_ stupid.

"Let's do this." She said, shifting her wings and launching forward, right into the toxic cloud. Dash held her breath as she searched the cloud, her eyes burning from the fumes, until she found what she was looking for. _"Got yah."_ She thought as she hooked her foreleg through the Weezing's... bone... thing. And pulled it with her, to her surprise, it was nowhere near as heavy as she thought it'd be.

Dash figured that if she could get the Pokémon out of the city... at least it wouldn't be poisoning ponies.

"Stop," The smaller head wheezed. "Please."

"Not until we're out of the city!" Rainbow shouted over the wind rushing past her ears.

It only took a few minutes for the fastest flier (or at least pegasus) in Equestria to reach the outskirts of Cloudsdale, the very edge of the city was just empty fields of cloud and hills for aesthetic appeal, Rainbow made to land, but then something went wrong, behind Rainbow, there was a hissing sound, followed by a loud pop and then a burning sensation in the pegasus' eyes and throat.

Rainbow started choking and dropped, bouncing off the clouds as the Weezing crashed a few feet behind her, poison gas leaking from a new hole in its body.

As Dash's vision blurred she thought she saw something circling above her, something silver and red, something leaving a trail of fire behind it. Then Dash blacked out.

* * *

Keldeo, the Colt Pokémon, paced back and forth in his room, waiting. _"Where is she? Where is she?"_He asked himself repeatedly, until he heard a knock at the door and saw Virizion sticking her head in.

"_You wanted to see me Keldeo?"_ The Grass-type asked, a smile on her lips.

"_Yeah, thanks for getting here so quick."_

Virizion walked over to Keldeo and pulled him into a nuzzle. _"Anything for you my little colt."_

Keldeo rolled his eyes but smiled none the less. Virizion, while not his actual mother, had taken a big part in raising the youngest Sacred Swordsman and they loved each other dearly, even if she could be a bit overprotective at times, and he could be a little bit reckless.

"_So what did you want to talk about?"_ Virizion asked.

Keldeo shifted nervously on his hooves. _"Well, you see Virizion, the other day, when those ponies came here, I wandered into the meeting hall and... well there was this really cute mare who I can't stop thinking about and-Ahh!"_

Keldeo was cut off as Virizion pulled him close to her in a semblance of a hug, saying. _"Oh how sweet, my little colt's first crush!"_

Keldeo blushed fiercely and tried to escape from his teacher/mothers grasp, to no avail, until she let him go. _"Go on, tell me everything about her."_

Keldeo sighed. _"That's just it, all I know is that her name's Lady Rarity, we didn't actually get to talk the other day."_

Virizion though for a moment, then said. _"Well we'll just have to fix that now won't we?"_ She then proceeded to usher Keldeo out of the room.

"_Wait, what?"_ Keldeo asked in confusion. _"Where are we going?"_

"_To visit Lord Arceus, he's doing something with Rayquaza at the moment, and then we're going to go pay a visit to miss Rarity."_

"_You're kidding right?"_ Keldeo asked. _"Please tell me you're kidding?"_

"_Now, now, Keldeo. I can understand that you're nervous but you need to face this head on."_ Virizion wasn't entirely paying attention to her adopted son's arguments at this point, more she was wondering on how to coach the young legendary how to be a proper gentlemen... gentlecolt... whatever the term was.

Keldeo glumly followed Virizion, he should have known this would happen, Virizion was kind of the self-appointed den mother of the legendaries, specifically the younger ones, before Arceus' returned she was the main reason the Legendaries kept any kind of contact with each other, well, her Cresselia, and Mew.

And she was the _only_ reason that Black and N weren't attacked the moment they caught Zekrom and Reshiram.

It only took a few minutes for the Fighting-types to find Arceus and Rayquaza, granted the later usually took up most of whatever room he was in.

"_Lord Arceus, Lord Rayquaza,"_ Virizion said with a bow, Keldeo following her example.

"_You know you don't have to call me lord every time, we are family."_ Arceus said, his powers concentrated on the sky lord.

"_What are you doing anyway?"_ Keldeo asked, looking over the Dragon.

"_Making it so Rayquaza doesn't collapse Cloudsdale if he flies past it."_ Arceus explained. _"What brings you two here."_

Virizion wasted no time in explaining. _"Well you see Lord Arceus,"_ She began. _"Little Keldeo here has developed his first crush, and I wanted to take him to see her."_

If Arceus had lips, they would've curved upwards. _"Is that so?"_ He asked. _"And would this crush happen to be a certain unicorn who was here the other day?"_

Keldeo blushed deeply. _"Y-yes."_

Arceus chuckled. _"Ahh, to be young... huh."_ Arceus realized that the rest of the saying wouldn't make sense coming from one who had literally been old when time began. _"Anyway, Miss Rarity is..."_ Arceus checked the vast expanse of space and time. _"On her way back to Ponyville, oh, and yes, you can leave, Terrakion and Cobalion as well."_

Virizion smiled. _"Thank you my lord."_

"_No problem,"_ Arceus said as the pair made for the exit. _"Oh, and Keldeo?"_ The Colt Pokémon turned back to Arceus. _"Good luck."_

Keldeo blushed again and groaned before leaving the room.

Arceus chuckled as the Colt left the room, then turned back to Rayquaza. _"Just a few more moments and then-"_

A burst of smoke flew into the room and solidified into a scroll with the Canterlot royal seal on it.

Confused, Arceus willed the letter to him and unrolled it. The Alpha Pokémon's eyes went wide.

"_Well we're done here anyway, now I've got to go find Meloetta."_ Arceus disappeared in his usual flash of gold, dropping and scroll and allowing it to unroll on the floor, revealing the words.

_Cloudsdale general hospital._

* * *

Rainbow Dash awoke to the voice of an angel... _"...Ok what?"_

Dash cracked open one of her eyelids and immediately shielded it with her hoof. "Ohhh..."

"_Oh good, you're awake."_ Rainbow looked up and saw... well whatever it was it looked kinda like Belle, only a lot smaller and a different color. _"We were beginning to worry."_

"We?" Rainbow groaned.

"My sister and Arceus would be here if not for, well, current circumstances." Luna said.

After the shock that Luna was in the room passed Dash turned her attention back to Meloetta. "Who are you? And what exactly happened?"

"_Lady Meloetta, guardian of music, at your service."_ Meloetta said with a bow.

"She's a legendary," Luna explained. "And she healed you, using her singing, interestingly enough."

"_As for the what,"_ Meloetta explained. _"You took in a large amount of toxic gas from a genetically altered Weezing."_ Meloetta's voice developed a chill at the end of her sentence. _"Team Rocket."_ She hissed.

"What?" Dash asked.

"_Some of the worst people back on Earth,"_ Meloetta explained. _"They treat Pokémon like tools and then try to 'improve' them. The Weezing was a failed experiment, Mew said they tried to make it a living gas bomb by overcharging its Self-Destruct and Explosion, that caused it to actually blow holes in it's casing, which let all the toxic gas out."_

"Self-Destruct?" Luna asked.

"_Oh, uh, it's a move some Pokémon can learn."_ Meloetta answered.

"That's kinda unsettling." Dash added.

Luna sighed. "Anyway, Arceus' daughter Mew was here earlier, she fixed whatever was wrong with the Pokémon and then returned to Arceus."

"How long was I out?" Dash asked, slightly worried.

"All in all?" Luna said. "About an hour and a half."

Rainbow's jaw dropped slightly. "Wow, you guys work almost as fast as me."

Meloetta giggled. _"Let's just say we've had some practice."_ The legendaries often found themselves in dangerous situations, usually involving humans.

Dash smiled, then grew confused as she remembered her last conscious moments. "How did I get here?" Dash asked. "No one was around when I passed out, not that I could see at least."

Luna and Meloetta looked at each other. _"The doctors said you and Weezing were dropped off by a Dragon of sorts."_ Meloetta began.

"But from the description given, Meloetta determined that it was, in fact a Pokémon, likely one known as a Char-lizard."

"_It's Charizard."_ Meloetta grumbled. _"It's not my fault you make bad puns of their names."_

"I think yours are the puns, but no matter." Luna commented.

"_It was probably a Charizard, although the description was... off, in some ways."_ Meloetta shrugged.

"So someone basically saved my life, and then left?" Dash asked.

"_Well... we're not actually sure how Pokémon poison is going to affect Ponies, although apparently it makes you pass out, but other than that,"_ Meloetta shrugged. _"It usually makes Pokémon faint if left without healing for long enough, same with humans, although if it gets really bad, then they can die, so,"_

Dash and Luna didn't say anything for a moment, then Dash spoke up. "Ooook, I'm just gonna take that as a yes, do we have any idea where this Dragon went?"

Luna shook her head. "The receptionist said that after it dropped you off, it flew off in the direction of the lonesome mountain."

"Where?" Dash asked.

"The mountain where you and the others spoke with the Red Dragon who temporarily took up residence in Equestria." Luna explained.

Dash thought on this for a moment, then shot out of the hospital bed, leaving behind the robe they had put her in. "In that case," Dash made it to the window and opened it. "I've gotta go find this guy, and thank him."

Meloetta watched as Dash flew out the window, in the direction of a single mountain amongst rolling hills.

The Melody Pokémon turned to Princess Luna in confusion. _"You're just going to let her leave?"_

Luna shrugged. "Rainbow Dash can handle herself quite well, she's a cadet in the Wonderbolts reserves now."

Meloetta sighed. _"Fine, I'm going to check out the city."_ Meloetta floated out the open window, leaving Luna by herself in the hospital room.

The Lunar Princess smiled. "Now just for some supplies," Luna trotted out of the room, a spring in her step. "A good teacher must always be prepared."


	24. Chapter 22

"_You know what? I was actually starting to think this might not be so bad,"_ Keldeo said as he made his way out of the Everfree. _"I thought, 'Hey, Virizion's not gonna embarrass me too much, I'm sure it'll be fine.'"_

"_And now?"_ Terrakion asked.

Keldeo glared at him. _"What do you think?"_

Virizion fought back the urge to laugh. She hadn't expected Cobalion and Terrakion to tag along when she told them where she and Keldeo were going, but, as Terrakion had said. "The more the merrier."

"_Did you all have to come?"_ The Colt Pokémon asked, slightly perturbed that his entire "family" was coming with him. _"I don't even know what I'm going say. Heck, I wasn't even going to do this until Virizion butted in."_

"_Oh sweetie,"_ Virizion cooed. _"Just be yourself, any mare would be lucky to have you."_

"_I was thinking more along the lines of what I'm going to say, I can't just walk up to her door and ask her out."_ Keldeo was beginning to think he should have gone to Cresselia instead.

"_I do not understand this form of courting,"_ Cobalion interjected. _"It was much simpler when the strongest fighter was awarded the most eligible mate."_

The other swordsmen were silent for a moment. _"Cobalion,"_ Terrakion started. _"You're just as old as Virizion and I, and you never even courted anyone, do you really think you're qualified to give dating advice?"_

"_And for the record,"_ Virizion added. _"That sounded kinda sexist, you might wanna watch how you word your... reminiscences."_

"_Hmm... point taken."_

Keldeo sighed. _"Look guys I appreciate the... help, but I'm not going to jump into this, I wanna get to know Rarity before I start anything... serious."_

"_A wise choice if I've ever heard one."_ Cobalion nodded. _"Although I suggest you figure out what you are going to say, because it appears we have reached Ponyville."_

Keldeo looked up and saw that they had indeed reached Ponyville. _"Well,"_ Terrakion said with a grin._"I guess it's time to meet the locals."_

As the swordsmen made their way into town they noticed several things, one thing in particular._"They're all staring."_ Keldeo noted. _"Why are they all staring?"_

"_Not sure,"_ Terrakion answered. _"But I kinda like it."_ Terrakion grinned at a pair of Pegasus mares and flexed, the mares developed an expression that was mixture of confusion and horror.

Virizion sighed and stepped forward. _"Sorry about him,"_ She said to the pair. _"He can't control himself sometimes."_

Flitter and Cloudchaser's mouths dropped, but before they could say anything Keldeo ushered Virizion and Terrakion forward. _"Can you two please not..."_

Cobalion stepped forward and glanced at the sisters. _"Madams."_ He said with a nod, before following after his colleagues.

A few moments later and the quartet was in the center of town, Cobalion leading the group. _"Oh come now sweetie,"_ Virizion said to Keldeo. _"I'm sure everything will work out fine."_

_And soon I'll be looking after your little foals._ She thought to herself.

"_Not to burst anyone's bubble here."_ Cobalion interrupted. _"But I'm not exactly sure where this Carousel Boutique is."_

The Swordsmen paused and looked to each other, then they all turned to Keldeo. _"Oh no,"_ He shook his head. _"I was just looking for advice, you dragged me here."_

"_Well we're going to need directions,"_ Cobalion looked around. _"Think anyone would be willing to give them?"_

"_I'm sure we can find someone."_ Virizion said. The Grassland Pokémon looked around and spotted a tan coated stallion with three horseshoes for a cutie mark.

Virizion smiled and walked up to the stallion. _"Hello there."_ She greeted. Caramel looked up and the stallions mouth fell open.

"Um... hi." He said in return.

Virizion giggled. _"My friends and I are trying to find Carousel Boutique, would you mind pointing us in the right direction?"_

Caramel nodded. "Just keep going the way you were, you can't miss it."

"_Thank you."_ Virizion trotted back over to the others, then Caramel noticed that Terrakion, Keldeo, and Cobalion were glaring at him, he quickly headed in the opposite direction.

"_Well come along then."_ Virizion trotted towards Carousel Boutique, the other Swords of Justice following.

Soon, their destination came into view. _"Guys... maybe this is a bad idea,"_ Keldeo said nervously. _"I mean, we can't just show up uninvited like this."_

"_True,"_ Virizion agreed. _"That would be rude,"_ The Grass-type smiled and turned away from the group for a moment. _"Nature Power."_

Keldeo and the other male Swordsmen watched Virizion in confusion for a moment, then she turned around holding a single rose in her mouth. _"Here."_ She passed the rose to Keldeo. _"Now you won't be showing up empty hoofed."_

Keldeo rolled his eyes. _"Guys I don't-"_

"_No more arguments young colt!"_ Virizion ordered. _"Now go introduce yourself, we'll be behind you the entire time."_

Virizion had meant this literally, but upon seeing the horror in the Colt Pokémon's eyes Cobalion decided that wasn't going to work. _"Of course, you have our full support, come now you two."_

To Virizion's shock, Cobalion and Terrakion began leading her away from the boutique. _"Wait but I wanted to... good luck! And remember, just be yourself!"_

Keldeo chuckled at Virizion's actions, then looked back towards the boutique, then at the rose Virizion had thrust upon him. He sighed. _"Well, here goes nothing."_

Keldeo walked up to the door of Carousel Boutique, took a deep breath, and knocked.

* * *

Twilight read over the letter Princess Celestia had sent to her, then she read it again, then she had Spike read it. "Sooo... she's planning on making Pokémon citizens?" Spike asked.

"Not exactly," Twilight levitated the letter back to her and reread it. "She's just giving them rights so that they're protected by the law."

"And that means that Hard Proof is going to jail?" May asked, holding an ice pack to her head.

"Maybe, he did disturb the peace and acted violently but since the law's being passed after he attacked you..."

"I get it." May interrupted. "I just want this whole thing to blow over."

May had awoken soon after Twilight had sent her letter to the Princess, Juniper had then filled her in on what has happened, specifically, why Arceus had done what he did. That hadn't gone over too well, although May had stayed calm long enough for Juniper to finish explaining. Then she had decided that she wanted to come back to Ponyville with Twilight and Juniper.

Twilight wasn't sure what May was planning but she knew she was planning something, either involving Gene or Arceus or perhaps both.

Twilight sighed, outside of the Plunder Vines invasion of Equestria this was her first real task as a Princess, and it was something that was tasking Celestia, Luna, and she assumed Cadence. _"I should really check in on her."_ She thought to herself, recalling what Juniper had told her about Ice-types, and a few Pokémon that ate crystals.

Twilight shook her head, trying to refocus, which wasn't easy, she was faced with possibly the biggest event in Equine history and she was torn between researching it and trying to smooth it out.

While Twilight pondered her position someone knocked at the door. "Princess?" The mayor stuck his head in. "I hate to bother you, your highness, but... Hard Proof, the stallion you arrested, he's been asking to talk to the arresting officer, which is, well, you. And speaking of, there is some paper work you have to fill out regarding the arrest."

Twilight groaned but got up. "Fine, let's just get this over with."

"You want me to come with?" Spike asked.

"No Spike, this'll only take a minute," She glanced at May. "Just keep an eye on her for me alright?"

"Yes ma'am." Spike saluted.

Twilight nodded and followed the mayor out of the room they were in, the group was staying at town hall for the night, aside for Falkner and Pidgeot, who were flying around town, and were heading back to Ponyville in the morning, and invitation Twilight intended to extend to Falkner when next she saw him.

It didn't take long for Twilight to reach the police station where they were holding Hard Proof, and it took even less time for her to fill out the arrest form. Fortuitously, it was still completely blank, meaning that Twilight was able to include the Pokémon related laws that had _technically_ gone into effect when they had been approved.

Originally, Twilight wasn't going to talk to Hard Proof, she wasn't in the mood to deal with some racist stallion. But, given some time to think about it, she decided it might be a good idea to try and figure out what made him tick, after all, she would probably have to deal with more ponies like him before things calmed down.

Twilight asked one of the officers to take her to him and, after checking if she really wanted to see him, lead the Princess to one of the holding cells.

"He's use to this by now," The officer told her. "This isn't his first time."

Twilight peered at the stallion sitting glumly in the cell. "What did he do?"

The officer shrugged. "Disturbing the peace mostly, some harassment, but this is the first time he's attacked somepony... someone."

Twilight nodded, then after another moment observing the stallion, motioned for the guard to open the door.

The silver stallion looked up as Twilight and the officer walked in. "Hello," Twilight greeted awkwardly. "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle... the mayor said that you wanted to see me."

Hard Proof glared at her for a moment, then spoke. "I just want to know why?"

Twilight's expression quickly turned to confusion. "Why what?"

Hard Proof turned away and mumbled, almost inaudibly. "Why a Princess sided with those monsters over her own people."

"I'm not siding against anyone." Twilight defended. "I'm trying to salvage this situation before everything falls into chaos."

"Then why aren't the Princesses rounding up these creatures?!" Hard Proof snapped. "Why hasn't Princess Celestia attacked that bigoted monster who brought these things here!?"

Twilight took a few steps backwards and the officer took a few steps forward. Hard Proof sat back down. "Look Mister Proof," Twilight said after a moment. "The Pokémon aren't monsters, they're just as intelligent as you and I,"

"_Probably quite a bit more so than the former."_ She thought.

"And Lord Arceus has his reasons for doing what he did, he may have made gone about enacting his plan in the entirely wrong way, but he doesn't want to cause trouble, he just seems to lack foresight, and maybe common sense."

At this Hard Proof scoffed. "You really think these monsters-"

"They're Pokémon, not monsters!" Twilight snapped. "And I'm happy to say that I count a few of them as friends." Twilight had grown rather fond of Juniper in the short time she had known her, as well as Gene and Belle and, to a slightly lesser extent, Korrina and Misty. "So either talk to me like an intelligent stallion, or just stop talking all together."

Hard Proof was silent for a moment, but as Twilight made to leave he spoke up. "Are you really going to support these... Pokémon, and their leader? They're invading just like those bugs did last year, only this time it's not just Canterlot."

Twilight shook her head. "I know this seems bad... ok, it is bad, but Princess Celestia is doing everything she can to make this right. She called a council with the other countries of Equus and she's been talking with Lord Arceus."

Hard Proof said nothing; he just grunted and turned away from the Alicorn.

Twilight sighed and shook her head. She motioned for the officer to open the door, as she left Twilight spared one more glance at the stallion, then she walked away. As the door shut, Hard Proof mumbled one word under his breath, to quiet to hear. "Traitor."

* * *

Rainbow Dash landed on a rocky ledge and peered down the side of the mountain she had landed on, it had taken about an hour and the sun was getting low on the horizon, she was just glad she could fly this time, it would've taken her way to long to climb the mountain on hoof, although that appeared to be just ponies.

Dash had stopped her ascent because she wanted to get a closer look at something, scattered amongst the rocky crevices and outcroppings were what Rainbow assumed were Pokémon, the ones that had caught her attention looked almost identical to normal mountain goats, aside from the leaves sprouting from their necks.

Now that Rainbow was closer, she could also see slopes carved down the mountain, and plodding around at the top of the slopes were creatures that looked like walking boulders with four arms. Every now and again, and seemingly at random, one would jump down the slopes and roll down the mountain.

"Weird." Dash commented before taking to the air again and returning to the task at hoof. "Now if I were a Dragon, where would I be." Dash thought for a moment, then face hoofed as the answer came. "Duh! The same cave as last time."

Dash quickly changed course and soon found herself nearing the top of the mountain. "Wonder why this guy's all alone... maybe it's a Dragon thing."

Dash shrugged it off as she passed the last ridge and was greeted by the open sky, she quickly stopped ascending and looked down, seeing the same cave that she and the others had found the Red Dragon in Dash landed and looked around.

"Well it looks like someone's been here recently." Dash said, noting the scuff marks that looked as if something big had been landing and taking off from here, as well as the claw marks leading to the cave.

Dash trotted forward and looked into the cave, she smiled as she saw a small fire inside. Rainbow was about to head in, when she realized that disturbing a possibly sleeping Dragon hadn't worked out so well last time, so instead.

_*Knock, knock, knock*_

She knocked on the side of the cave and called. "Hello? Anybody home?" For a moment, nothing happened, then Dash heard something inside the cave grumble, she took a few steps back and noticed that the firelight was getting closer.

As it did, Rainbow was able to make out just what was in the cave. "Definitely a Dragon." She said nervously, hoping she hadn't stumbled across something much worse than her savior.

Dash stood her ground a few feet from the mouth of the cave, watching as the Dragon slowly made its way towards her. Soon the creature stood in full view of Rainbow Dash, and she could finally tell just what it was.

The flaming tail, silver and tan skin, red wings, horns... baseball cap? Dash was now fairly certain that this creature was the Charizard that had saved her, the description and colors fit, and she didn't think any real Dragons wore hats... aside from Spike... and Discord.

The hat was fitted, somehow, so that the Charizard's horns stuck through the back, how it had got it on there was a mystery. "Uh... hi." Dash greeted. "I'm Rainbow Dash... I think you saved my life?"

The Charizard said nothing, it just looked Rainbow Dash up and down.

"I wanted to say thank you... for saving me I mean... that was you wasn't it?"

Still the Fire-type didn't speak.

"... For the record I can understand you, Princess Celestia cast a translation spell on me so that I could understand Pokémon."

The Charizard raised an eyebrow, then, to Dash's surprise, he chuckled. "Is that so?" His voice was much softer and smoother than Dash had expected. "In that case, yes, I was the one who rescued you, saw what you did for that Weezing, very brave, by the way."

"Th-thanks," Dash said. "But it was really nothing."

The Charizard looked at her quizzically. "Really? Where I come from, not many would risk their lives for a Poison-type."

At this point Dash started to put some things together, how the Pokémon was wording his sentences, the hat, how he hadn't spoken at first, the hat... mainly the hat. "Hang on, did you use to be human?" She finally asked.

The Charizard looked shocked. "You... know about humans? How?"

Dash shrugged. "You're not the only one who's in a new body, there are a few of 'em down in Ponyville, I could take you there if you-"

"No." He held up a claw. "I... prefer my solitude, it helps me think... and besides, I need to find my team."

Dash raised an eyebrow. "You sure? The others, well most of the others, are trying to convince Arceus to turn them human again, Princess Celestia's trying too, I'm sure they could use some support."

He shook his head. "No. I've had my share of adventures, I'm not going to go upset a God..." He bit his lower lip, as if he was feeling indecisive. "If... if you really need my help, or if you think there's a real chance Arceus might," He looked down at his claws. "Turn us back, then come and find me, but until then, Miss Dash, I bid you adieu."

Dash nodded. "Alright, just wanted to say thanks, and if you ever need something come look me up."

"Thank you Miss Dash." He turned to leave but Dash got the feeling he would never take her up on her offer.

Dash made to leave as well but stopped. "Oh hey, I forgot to ask, what's your name?"

The Charizard stopped and glanced back at her. "My name?" Dash nodded, he smirked. "My name's Red."

Red retreated back into the cave, leaving Dash wondering just who he was, and why she felt intimidated.

* * *

Rarity hummed to herself as she set up a pot of tea in the kitchen. "That'll be done soon."

The fashionista trotted back into her living room, where she smiled as she saw Opal still playing with Spritzee, batting at the little pink ball as she fluttered just out of reach, to Rarity's surprise, the usually aggressive cat had gotten along quite well with the little Fairy.

Rarity had thought that maybe her cat was finally becoming more social, until she remembered what Gene had said about Spritzee's scent, and realized that Opal was probably smelling cat nip, still it was cute to watch.

Rarity had arrived back at Ponyville not long ago, having checked on the Eternal Sundial, which was, and several others had supported this with their own findings, a completely unknown type of rock that seemed to have naturally formed in the shape it was, including the gold plates, was infused with some kind of magic, and had some kind of spinning rings in front of it.

More than likely Arceus had created it out of nothing, as crystals did not naturally form like that.

"Well, I suppose I could go check on Pinkie Pie, the poor dear must be running herself ragged with all these parties."

_*Knock, knock, knock*_

Rarity looked at the door. "I wonder who that could be." Rarity trotted over to the door and opened it. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique," She began her slogan, not even looking to see who it was. "Home of the chic, unique, and magnific."

"_Umm... Hi."_

Rarity's eyes widened as she looked who had come to her door. She was shocked to see the Pony... Pokémon, from the other day... Keldeo, standing there. "Oh... hello, Keldeo right?"

The Colt Pokémon smiled, Rarity noted the Rose he held in his mouth. _"Yeah, sorry for the intrusion I just..."_ Keldeo quickly realized he still hadn't thought of what he was going to say, he for sure wasn't going to just ask her out, she'd think he was weird. _"Me and my... family, were out and I thought I'd stop by."_

Rarity raised an eyebrow and glanced at the rose. Keldeo blushed. _"Virizion said I shouldn't show up empty hooved."_

"Who's Virizion?" Rarity asked.

"_She's... basically my mother but... it's complicated, look I'm sorry, this was a bad idea, I should go."_ Keldeo turned to leave but Rarity stopped him.

"No, no, no darling, please come in." Before he could say anything Rarity pulled him inside. "Sorry if I sounded rude, you would not believe the day I've had... actually you probably would now wouldn't you?" Rarity giggled, as sweet sound that made Keldeo's heart flutter.

Then he felt his jaw tingling and opened it to see the rose enveloped in a light blue aura. "I'll just go put this in some water, be back in a minute." She called as she trotted into the kitchen.

Keldeo smiled, so far, things were actually going better than he expected. "Now then," Rarity trotted back in with two cups of tea in her grasp. "Where were we?" She placed the tea cup in front of Keldeo.

Ignoring the cup Keldeo turned to Rarity. _"You just invited me in, I didn't really say anything."_

Rarity nodded and took a sip of her tea, inconspicuously eyeing Keldeo as she did. For the first time she really got a good look at the Pokémon. "Well dear," She began. "Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself, we are neighbors, sort of... do you live in that temple or not?"

Keldeo shrugged. _"Not usually, it just got restored so no one really stayed there, and I didn't really have a home, me and the other Swordsmen just traveled around, helping others."_

Keldeo and Rarity had moved to the couch in the living room and were both sitting on it, Rarity noticed that Keldeo hadn't touched his tea. "Swordsmen hmm? And who might they be? More Legendaries I presume."

Keldeo nodded. _"The Swords of Justice, yeah, Arceus tasked us with protecting the Pokémon of the Unova region, Cobalion's the leader, Virizion, she's the one who really raised me, and Terrakion."_

Rarity, her ears attuned for subtext, picked up on something that Keldeo wasn't saying. "You keep saying that this Virizion raised you," She pointed out. "But she's not your mother? Is it some kind of Pokémon thing?"

Keldeo sighed and shook his head. _"No, it's... a really long and depressing story."_

Rarity frowned, but she could tell Keldeo didn't want to talk about it. "Alright."

Keldeo appeared confused. _"That's it?"_ He asked. _"Most people press me for a little at least."_

"Oh perish the thought," Rarity waved her hoof, dismissing the notion. "If the topic is uncomfortable then I'm certainly not going to push you."

"_Oh... thank you."_

"Think nothing of it," Rarity smiled. "However I'm sure you have some family stories you're willing to tell, your family, at least the ones that I've met, seem to be quite an... interesting bunch."

"_Well,"_ Keldeo smirked. _"There is one story I've been dying to tell."_

"So let me get this straight," Rarity said. "This Heatran fellow tried to swim in a volcano?"

"_No, he can already do that, what he tried to do was make his own personal swimming pool of lava in an active volcano."_

"That seems like a terrible idea." Rarity commented.

"_Yeah, he actually caused an eruption, and he fell into the magma chamber so Groudon had to get him out."_

Rarity chuckled softly. "Well I hope no one was hurt."

Keldeo shook his head. _"Nah, Heatran and Groudon are immune to magma, and most of the wild Pokémon in the area could fly or dig, and the humans didn't stick around once the tremors started, plus,"_ He paused and looked around to make sure no one was within listening range. _"Most Pokémon know to clear the area when Heatran shows up."_

Rarity chuckled, she and Keldeo had been sharing stories for a while and she was beginning to enjoy the Pokémon's company, although there was one thing that was bothering her.

"Keldeo you haven't touched your tea, what's the matter? Not a fan?" She didn't mean anything by the question, she was just curious.

"_No, I have nothing against tea... although I've never really tried it, it's just... I can't really hold a cup."_ This left Rarity confused, then she took a closer look at Keldeo's hooves, unlike a pony's, his hooves were hard and shiny, and appeared to be non-malleable.

"Ohhh," Rarity exclaimed. "So sorry, I forgot you weren't actually a pony... I don't suppose your horn is anything like a Unicorns then?"

Keldeo sighed. _"Maybe the same material, but I can't use magic... I can't use Psychic either, or any moves that would help."_

"Hmm, maybe Twilight will be able to figure something out, after all, if the Pokémon are here to stay then I doubt they're going to be living in the woods like animals." She chuckled. "I don't think the Princesses would allow that."

"_Heh,"_ Keldeo looked up at the ceiling. _"You sound like a human I met once while we were checking in on someone, he didn't think it was fair that we got treated like that."_

"Well dear, from what Belle and the others have said it really wasn't," Rarity affirmed. "I assure you, most decent ponies wouldn't stand for other sapient beings being forced to live in the wild and being used for sport."

Keldeo sighed. _"That's actually really relieving to hear,"_ The Colt Pokémon glanced at the clock and saw that it was getting late. _"We talked for longer than I thought,"_ He noted. _"I should get going."_

Rarity looked at the clock. "I suppose so," Rarity got up and Keldeo did the same. "But this was actually rather enjoyable." She said, opening the door. "We should get together again sometime, I'm sure the girls would love to meet you."

Keldeo smiled as he trotted out of the boutique. _"I'd love to, I promise I'll drop by some time alright?"_

"I'll hold you to it." Rarity said with a smile, closing the door. As she did her grin grew even wider. Her talk with Keldeo had given her some ideas. "Pokémon fashion," She ran the idea over in her head as she made towards the kitchen. "Though I don't think many have a source of income... maybe I should start with the Legendaries?"

She figured she might as well do a few sketches, as well as brainstorm for Belle's wedding dress. "An actual challenge," She mused. "I do love a good challenge."

* * *

Several hours later

Equestria was in the grip of the night, although due to a recent influx of nocturnal creatures, it was much more active than it had been a few days prior. And while this had not gone unnoticed by the Princess of the Night, Luna had something else on her mind.

"Mayhaps I should have asked Tia for advice," Luna was pacing in her room, wondering how she was going to teach Darkrai proper control, assuming the Pitch-Black Pokémon showed up that is.

Luna shook her head. "Nay, the night and dreams are our domain, and I will teach Darkrai to control his powers, less an abomination worse than the Nightmare and Sombra come about." Darkness, Luna had long since discovered, was infectious, and if the Pokémon of Darkness could learn to control it, then Luna would be able to dream walk peacefully at night.

Luna glanced at the clock. "Almost eleven," She said. "I wonder if this is how Tia feels when waiting for Twilight... if Twilight were ever late that is."

Luna waited a few more minutes, fearing that Darkrai would refuse to come again, then she felt the temperature in the room drop, and, before her eyes, the shadows on the floor and walls began to come together, forming a pitch black spot in the center of the room. From this spot, Darkrai rose.

"_Greetings Princess Luna."_ The Dark-type greeted the lunar Alicorn with a bow.

"Hello Darkrai," Luna said in return. "I was beginning to think you were not coming."

Darkrai sighed. _"I almost didn't, even Lord Arceus has tried to quell my dark powers, and he couldn't do it without destroying them... and me, I fear this will just be a waste of your time."_

"Well it is my time to waste." Luna stated. "Now come, there is something I wish to show you."

Luna pushed the door to her room open and beckoned Darkrai to follow, the Legendary reluctantly followed after her.

As they walked, Darkrai noted that the guards were not the Pegasi he was used to, instead they had fangs and cat like eyes, as well as bat wings. _"Yours I presume?"_

Luna nodded. "Bat Ponies, up until my return they were spread thin across Equestria after my sister discharged the Lunar guard after my banishment." Normally Luna wouldn't mention her fall from grace, but, as she was trying to teach Darkrai control, she figured she may as well use an example. "Here we are."

Luna and Darkrai stopped at a pair of oaken doors, marked with Luna's Cutie Mark. _"What is this?"_Darkrai asked.

Luna smiled. "My personal wing of the royal library," She powered up her magic and the door swung open. "Where the scrolls and tomes relating to dream magic are held."

Darkrai floated into the room after Princess Luna, admiring the rows of dusty old scrolls. _"Interesting."_

"I know." Luna walked over to one of the shelves and pulled several books from it. "Here," She floated the books over to Darkrai. "While I prefer a more hooves on approach, a rudimentary knowledge of how dream magic, and magic as a whole functions will be necessary before we can really begin." Darkrai flipped open one of the books. "You are able to read the language correct?"

Darkrai was silent for a moment as he looked over the book. _"Yes, this is the same written language the humans used, I can understand it quite well."_

"Good," Luna nodded, glad that was one less thing she had to worry about. "Read the sections relating to use and control of magic, as well as dream magic, then we can begin."

Luna walked to the center of the room and pulled a pillow out from under one of the desks. "If you have any questions wake me, I'll be in the dreamscape."

With that, Luna laid her head on the pillow and faded to unconsciousness. Darkrai looked at his teacher in curiosity. _"I do not think that this is normal."_ He noted, remembering what Genesect had told him about his own training. _"But if there is a chance that this will help me..."_

Darkrai opened the first book and began reading.


	25. Chapter 23

As Celestia's sun rose over Ponyville, the citizens of the town began to rise, although a few had been awake for quite some time now.

"And that... should do it." Discord said, clapping his hands together as he looked over the spread he and Pinkie had just finished.

"It's perfect, Dissy." Pinkie said with a smile, hopping around one of the snack tables. "Our Mega Welcome to Ponyville Pokémon Party is ready." Pinkie pulled her checklist from her mane and drew a line through. Mega Welcome to Ponyville Pokémon Party.

"It was no trouble," Discord said with a grin. "I'm actually quite looking forward to this one." Discord had attended a few of Pinkie Pie's parties in the past, although because the majority of Equestria still didn't accept him he spent most of his time annoying Luna and Tia. But this party had the possibility to become the biggest chaos feast since Arceus showed up.

"Right, just make sure that no one ruins it until tonight, I gotta head over to Sugarcube Corner, my shift starts soon."

"Oh of course my dear." Discord snapped his talons and a large white sheet covered the entire area.

"Thanks Discord." Pinkie said as she trotted off.

Discord smiled, then turned back to the covered clearing, his grin growing wider. "Until tonight," He chuckled, hanging a, DO NOT DISTURB, sign over the tarp. "But until then, I best go check on Fluttershy. Come, Entropy." The Porygon-Z appeared next to Discord. "There's somepony I'd like you to meet."

* * *

In Equestria, things often go unexplained due to simply using the excuse "Magic." Often times they could be explained with a little research. For example, Arceus had inverted two or more separate dimensional plains and basically broken every law of physics that he wrote to bring the Pokémon to Equestria.

Another such phenomena was how the CMC's had not only managed to remain ungrounded after their escapade on the day Arceus arrived, but how they had managed to convince their families to allow them to keep the Pokémon they befriended, including one that was on fire. The answer to this... Magic.

"Scootaloo... why is that Pokémon on fire?" Sweetie Belle asked, meeting her friend's Pokémon for the first time.

"Beats me," Scootaloo shrugged. "But it doesn't really burn much."

"Well good." Apple Bloom stated. "Ah built this place and ah don't want ta see it burnt to the ground."

The three fillies, along with their new Pokémon, were in the CMC tree fort, the girls were discussing the Pokémon, while the Pokémon were playing with each other. In fact, they had acted as if they had already known each other when they arrived.

"So, Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom began. "How did you meet, ehh..."

"Squirtle," Sweetie finished. "I met him while I was out shopping for Pinkie's party, he was hanging out in the river and I think he just wanted a friend."

"Squirtle!" Shouted the Water-type, possibly in affirmative.

"Char!"

"Saur!"

Apple Bloom looked to the Pokémon, all of whom were now sitting and watching them, wondering just what they were doing, she smiled at the little Pokémon. "Ya know, they are awfully cute."

"Yeah, not like some of the other's I've seen around." Sweetie Belle agreed.

"Pfft, speak for yourselves, Charmander isn't cute, he's awesome."

Apple Bloom giggled. "Oh come on Scoots, he's cute."

"Nuh uh." She shook her head. "He's a Dragon, Dragon's aren't cute."

"But this little guy is." Sweetie argued. "He's like an orange Spike, only less scaly and more adorable." Charmander blushed.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes, deciding to move on. "Anyway we need to think of a new idea for our cutie marks, since the Cutie Mark Crusaders Party Ponies didn't work."

"Yeah, to bad too, that would've been awesome." Sweetie Belle lamented.

Apple Bloom didn't respond. Inwardly, she was busy mulling over an idea that she had gotten when she overheard Korrina talking the other day.

"Apple Bloom?" Sweetie asked. "You alright? You kinda zoned out there."

"Huh? Oh, ah'm fine, just thinkin' bout somethin'... You guys know what Korrina and Gene did back on Erf, or whatever it was?"

"Not really." Scootaloo answered.

"I thought Gene was a knight." Sweetie Belle added.

Apple Bloom looked at the unicorn. "Uhh... no, I heard Korrina and Lucario talkin' the other day, she mentioned somethin' about bein' a Pokémon Trainer."

"What's that?" Sweetie asked.

"Ah think it was a, uhh, a Hooman, that trained Pokémon." Apple Bloom tried to remember anything else.

"Trained them to do what exactly?" Scootaloo inquired.

"Ah don't know exactly, we can ask Korrina, Big Mac said she was headin' into town fer somethin'."

"I bet they train them to fight." Scootaloo answered. "Like when Belle beat up those giant bugs!"

"Ya mean the ones who kinda work for Sweet Apple Acres now? Yeah, ah was thinkin' that too."

"But these guys are just _sooo_ cute!" Sweetie Belle said, hugging Squirtle. "And I don't want little Squirtle to get hurt."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "They don't need to actually _hurt_ each other Sweetie Belle; it'll be like... like... like martial arts!"

"We tried that already." Apple Bloom winced as she recalled the bruises.

"No, we tried learning martial arts, teaching them is totally different, and this isn't actually martial arts," Scootaloo smiled. "It's Pokémon using crazy moves to fight each other!"

"I don't really like fighting." Sweetie Belle admitted.

Scootaloo didn't stop smiling. "And that's the beauty of this. You really think Gene just went around having Belle attack other Pokémon for fun?"

"No." Sweetie Belle answered.

"So our goal is just to make our Pokémon stronger in case they _need_ to fight." Scootaloo finished.

"Ya know what? Ah like it." Apple Bloom said. "We might need help from someone who actually trained Pokémon though."

"I guess if you guys are in, and Squirtle and the others agree to it, then... I guess its ok." Sweetie Belle still wasn't entirely sure.

The fillies turned to their Pokémon. "So, what do you guys think?" Scootaloo asked. "Want to try Pokémon training?"

"Squirtle!"

"Char!"

"Bulbasaur!"

The three answered, smiling.

"I guess that's a yes." Scootaloo figured. "Now come on, on three." She stuck her hoof out and Sweetie and Apple Bloom did the same. "One," She began.

"Two," Sweetie Belle added.

"Three."

"**Cutie Mark Crusaders Pokémon Trainers!"**

* * *

Korrina shivered as she felt a chill run down her spin. "Everything alright Korrina?" Lucario asked, noticing her discomfort.

"Yeah, just a little chill is all."

Korrina and Lucario were in Sugarcube Corner, waiting for Pinkie to show up with some drinks. The party pony had suggested that they stop by, possibly so she could get their birthday's, and the Lucario's had had no reason to refuse.

Lucario sighed at seeing the state she was in. He could see Korrina's sadness, no matter how hard she tried to hide it since he was just too familiar with her aura for it to work. As he watched the swirling blue pool of energy that made up his trainer, he considered just how... odd, it had become. Before, there was an obvious difference between a human's aura and a Pokémon's, like looking at a soda and a lemonade. Now... now it was as if someone had mixed said soda and lemonade together. To be honest, Lucario had expected the changes to continue happening until her aura fully became that of a Pokémon. However, oddly enough, halfway through the second day, when Korrina's aura was about fifty percent human - fifty percent Pokémon, it just...stopped.

It wasn't detrimental in anyway that he could tell, but it was very unusual.

"Sorry for the wait guys," Pinkie said, interrupting the Pokémon's thoughts. "I had to show Slurpuff where the cherries were."

"... What?" Korrina asked.

"Yeah, after I kinda tried to eat him I let him stay here and he just started baking after I left, and since the sweets he made were pretty tasty, the cakes hired him as a baker slash mascot." She slid two glasses of water in front of them. "And don't worry, these are on the house."

Before they could ask another question, Pinkie Pie sped off. "She's... different." Lucario commented. "And her aura is..." As Lucario turned to Korrina he was surprised to see her slumped in her seat, her head on the table. "Korrina?"

She looked up at him, with a sad puppy look that he wasn't sure she knew she was doing. "I just realized, or it just hit me... I don't have a job anymore... I'm..." Her voice cracked. "I'm not a Gym Leader anymore."

Lucario didn't know what to say, Korrina's one and only goal in life, ever since he had met her, was to be a great trainer. She didn't want to be champion, she always said it came with too many duty's, she just wanted to run her gym like only she could... and that had been torn away from her.

"Korrina..." He began. "I... I get how you're feeling but... you're still a trainer."

"No I'm not, I'm-"

"You're still _my_ trainer."

Korrina stopped and sat up. "But I'm not-"

"What? A human anymore?" He shook his head. "No, you're not, but I don't care. I'm going to stay by your side no matter what, and besides," He took a sip of his drink. "Your aura isn't that of a Pokémon. It's more of a mixture of human and Pokémon, and it stopped changing two days ago."

"R-really?" She asked.

Lucario nodded. "Your aura is what makes you... you, and even Lord Arceus can't take that from you… at least not completely."

Korrina smiled. "Thanks Lucario," She frowned. "But I still don't know what I'm gonna do with myself. I don't feel comfortable just sitting around, waiting for something to happen."

"We'll figure something out," Lucario assured her. "Or maybe the Princesses will convince Arceus to turn you back."

"Yeah," Korrina sighed. "Maybe."

Korrina sighed again and made to take a sip of her water as the door to sugarcube corner swung open. "Hey Korrina," Dash flew over to the table. "You know if Twi and Juniper are back yet? I wanna ask them something."

Korrina shrugged. "I don't know."

"Twi's train'll be here in about forty minutes." Pinkie answered, popping up beside Dash. "I checked the train schedule."

"Cool," Dash looked around the restaurant. "Man, this place is empty." It was true; Korrina and Lucario were currently the only customers in the restaurant.

"Yeah, Time Turner was in here a little while ago, but that's about it, I've just been in the kitchen, teaching a Meringue how to bake." Pinkie sighed. "I think everypony is still afraid of the Pokémon.

"Or at least the dangerous looking ones." Dash added.

"Yeah," Pinkie agreed sadly, a frown flickering on her face before she lit up again. "But that's what tonight's party is for! So that everyone gets to know each other."

Dash chuckled. "Sounds great Pinkie, just... don't get your hopes up too high, I don't want you to get depressed if something goes wrong."

"Silly Dashie, this is a Pinkie party, nothing ever goes wrong there," Her smile got even wider. "And I even got Discord and the Crusaders helping me, just to be safe."

The moment Pinkie Pie said that, the color drained from Rainbow Dash's face so quickly that Korrina thought she'd seen a Gengar.

"Anyway, I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." Pinkie said as she trotted off.

Lucario raised an eyebrow at Dash's shell shocked appearance. "Are you alright, Miss Dash?"

"Y-yeah, just... thinking." Dash was now thinking if she should consider moving her house somewhere else. She heard that Hoofrica was nice this time of year.

"Soo," Korrina began, hoping to snap the Pegasus out of... whatever it was she was in. "What was up in Cloudsdale?"

Dash shook her head to clear her mind. "Oh, some magnet, robot, Pokémon, moved into the factory,"

"Magnemite?" Korrina asked.

"Yeah, they were actually kinda... nice isn't really the word... understanding would be more like it. After that..." Dash winced. "That was when the trouble started."

Dash explained what had happened to her after she left the factory, what had happened with the Weezing, the hospital, and how she had gone to the mountain and her encounter with the Charizard who saved her.

"He apparently use to be human too, although he seemed to want to be left alone for the most part," Dash shrugged. "Offered to help if we needed anything though, so yeah, he was pretty cool."

Lucario nodded. "So," He asked. "What was his name?"

"He said his name was Red."

At that moment, Korrina, who had been taking a sip of her water at the time, immediately did a spit take. "Red?!" She sputtered. "Are you absolutely positive that's his name?!"

"Yeah." Rainbow answered. "You know him?"

"Know him?" She asked. "I don't think there's anyone on Earth who doesn't know him. He's Red, a legendary trainer, and the undefeated Kanto Champion!"

"Uhh... what does that mean exactly? You guys have been saying stuff like that, but I don't really know what it means."

Lucario, who had fallen silent when Rainbow Dash answered his question, looked up at her and said. "Champions are the most powerful trainers on the planet. There are only a few of them, but they are basically some of the most powerful and influential people in the world."

"Oh." Was all that Dash could say. Suddenly she was starting to see why she had felt intimidated when she was talking to Red.

"And their Pokémon..." Lucario continued, before he shook his head. "It's possible they're strong enough to take out some of the Legendary Pokémon...though none of the ones on Arceus' level, but maybe..."

"You've seen what Belle was capable of right?" Korrina asked, earning a nod from the Pegasus. "Well, the Kalos champion Dianthia has a Gardevoir as her team's powerhouse, and Belle's got nothing on Diantha's Gardevoir... I've seen her in battle before; it was over before it even began."

"Huh," Dash said. "Well, Red seemed pretty cool."

"I bet," Korrina mumbled under her breath, despite everything, she couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous that Rainbow Dash had actually met Red. Almost no one had met Red, and even the other champions had only met him a few times, all of which were fleeting at best, since Red was known to be a very reclusive champion. .

After a while, Dash excused herself, saying she had some cloud clearing to do and leaving the pair alone in the mostly empty bakery.

"Red." Lucario said, shaking his head.

Korrina just nodded. "Red."

* * *

It was almost noon when the train from Appeloosa pulled into Ponyville station. As the doors opened, most of the passengers scrambled out, looks of relief on their faces.

Applejack trotted out of the car and watched as they ran off.

"Wonder what's got them worked up?" Gene asked.

Applejack raised an eyebrow at him. "Maybe riding a train with a Dragon, a hell hound and a walking sword rack?"

"Oh..." Gene looked back as Fang plodded off the train, and Draco squeezed through the door frame. "Maybe."

Belle laughed as she made her way to her partner. "Well come on," She said, grabbing his hand. "I wanna talk to Rarity about-"

"Excuse me?" Gene and Belle looked up to see a Pidgeot hovering over them. "Are you Gene and Belle?"

"Yeah," Gene answered. "And you are?"

"Falkner. Sorry, but Twilight wanted me to find you. She said she wanted to see you two at her library as soon as you got back."

"Did she say why?" Belle asked.

"No, though it may have something to do with... never mind. She just wants to see you two, so now if you'll excuse me..." Falkner flew off and rejoined Pidgeot who had landed on the roof of the train station.

"So... I guessing that was the Violet City Gym Leader." Belle ventured.

"Probably." Gene agreed. "What do you think Twilight wants?"

"No idea, but let's just get this out of the way."

"Couldn't agree more." Gene whistled and Fang and Draco were at his side. "Guys, Belle and I have to go see Princess Twilight. You can come if you want, but try not to cause any trouble." Gene eyed Fang and the Houndoom just gave a look of, 'I would never'.

Belle turned to Applejack and smiled. "Thanks for your help Applejack."

Applejack scoffed. "Didn't really do much sugarcube, ya'll are the ones who stopped that steel thing, and the sandstorm."

"That may be true," Belle conceded. "But you helped convince the sheriff that we weren't monsters."

Applejack kicked the ground with one hoof, stirring up some dust. "Ah still feel bad 'bout how I treated ya when-"

"Water under the bridge." Belle assured her. "We'll see you around."

With that the Pokémon began making their way towards the library, while Applejack just smiled as she made her way back home.

As the four Pokémon made their way through town, they noticed two things. One, the Pokémon were starting to get more comfortable, and two, the towns ponies weren't. The group drew a lot of looks from the ponies they passed, and some of them seemed more angry or scared rather than curious.

"_Come on, we can't be the weirdest thing they've ever seen right?"_ Gene asked Belle.

Belle sighed. _"I think it's more that they know we're from another world."_

Nothing eventful happened on the way over, a soon they found themselves at the library. "Twilight?" Gene knocked. "Falkner said you needed to see us?"

There was the sound of whispering inside and a moment later Twilight opened the door. "Hi Belle, hi Gene, how was...?" Her eyes widened as she noticed Draco standing behind them.

"Twilight, this is Draco," Gene introduced. "Draco, this is Princess Twilight."

"Greetings Princess." Draco said with a bow.

Twilight, despite her confusion, said. "Uh... just Twilight is fine." She stared at the Flygon for another few seconds before collecting herself. "Right, there are some things we need to discuss."

Twilight stepped out of the way to let them in, as they entered the library they were greeted by Juniper floating by a bookshelf, doing some reading, and a Blaziken and a Delphox.

Once everyone was inside Twilight shut the door. "Twilight?" Belle asked. "Who's this?"

Twilight chuckled nervously. "This is May and Blaziken...May use to be-"

"Human too," Gene finished. "But why are they here?" Normally Gene wouldn't have asked, at least not so curtly, but something in his mind was telling him something wasn't right.

"I wanted to talk to you." May answered. "About... everything that's happened."

Gene raised an eyebrow but sat down at the table in the center of the library, across from May, Belle sitting next to him. "What did you want to talk about?" He asked somewhat cautiously.

May took a deep breath and prepared herself. "I know you went to see Arceus with a few others," She looked between the pair. "And that you two are... together."

Gene prepared for her to call him sick, or something, but instead she continued. "And I wanted to ask... what _exactly_ did Arceus say when... did you say Korrina? Asked to be made human again?"

Gene was surprised at the questions but after a second, he answered. "He said... he said that these bodies were...something in our spirit that he enhanced, about being-"

"No," May held up a paw to stop him. "I meant why he won't turn anyone back."

"He said that humans caused problems." Twilight added. "And that he didn't want to take any chances," She tapped her chin. "Though since the ones he brought are the... the ones he deemed worthy I wonder what he's afraid of, maybe if your kids or grandkids didn't turn out so great? But I always thought personality was more nurture than nature, and honestly you have both going for you here."

Twilight noticed that everyone was staring at her now. "What?" She asked. Juniper chuckled.

Gene smiled and turned back to May, he noticed the Delphox didn't seem very happy. "So what you're telling me is," She began. "Is that Arceus did this to prevent what _might_ happen?"

Twilight replayed her speech in her mind. "I... I guess? I'm sure it's more complicated than that though."

"Yeah," May glared at Gene and Belle. "Complicated." May got up from the table and made her way towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Twilight asked.

May turned back to her, sadness now clear on her face. "To see an old friend, someone who I can talk to."

With that she left the tree. Blaziken sighed. "She'll be alright," He assured. "She'll be upset for a while but trust me, that girl's tough, she'll either pull through this or figure out how to fix it."

"Aren't you gonna go after her?" Belle asked.

He shook his head. "Right now, May just needs to clear her head, at the moment I'd just get in the way." He sighed again. "Honestly I think this is just becoming too much for her, especially after how much she was preparing for the Hoenn Grand festival..." The Blaze Pokémon sighed, honestly disappointed as well. "We really had a shot this year too..."

* * *

Misty stared at her reflection in the river near Fluttershy's cottage, or what she was told was her reflection, since she still wasn't entirely sure this wasn't a dream.

Misty had come outside to be alone, as Fluttershy's house was crowded with Pokémon and animals, especially those three little Eevee's who just wouldn't leave her alone. Plus Discord was there and Misty really needed some peace and quiet.

She held a paw to her face, poking at the fins sprouting from either side of her head, tugging at the collar around her neck. "Gene and Korrina are lucky," She said to herself. "They're at least vaguely human still." Misty had never really been hung up on her looks, growing up with three sisters all of whom were said to be, 'the most beautiful girls in Kanto' had made her more of a tomboy, and she was glad for that, but still, she missed... everything, about her old self.

"I wonder what happened to Daisy and the others," Misty asked. "They definitely aren't bad people, just kind of vain." Misty didn't know what to do on that front, her sisters had, surprise, surprise, gone on yet another cruise a month before to celebrate... Misty wasn't exactly sure what.

"Ugg!" Misty plopped down on her back, staring up at the sky. "I wish some of the others were here," She lamented, thinking about her old friends. "I'm sure they would know what to do," She smiled. "Especially A-"

"Misty?"

Misty sat up and looked towards the voice; she was surprised to see a Delphox standing there. "Yes?" She answered.

The Fire-type smiled. "It's good to see you again."

Misty was about to ask just who this Pokémon was but before she could she noticed a familiar bandana wrapped around the Fox's head. "May?" She asked in disbelief.

The Delphox nodded. "Long time no see huh?"

Misty just nodded. "Yeah I... I can't believe you're here. I mean, here in Ponyville. Of course you'd have been brought here too."

May smiled and sat down next to Misty, a smirk appeared on her face as she did. "You know I always thought we'd meet again someday but I never thought it'd be like this."

Misty rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. At least you still have fingers! Look at this!" She held up her paw. "How am I supposed to hold anything with these?"

May laughed and wiggled her thumbs teasingly. For a while the two just sat by the river side and talked, catching up, but mostly just anything to keep their minds off the current events.

Eventually they just sat and watched the clouds roll by. "May?" Misty finally said.

"Yeah?"

"Just... thanks for talking with me, I needed someone who'd understand and Korrina gets it but... I'm just glad you're here."

May smiled. "Why do you think I came looking for you? As soon as I heard that you were here I figured you'd need someone to talk to, and honestly? So did I."

Misty smiled, grateful that she had someone she could really talk to. May felt the same, but something crept into her mind and she smirked. "Although I bet you'd feel a _lot_ better if a certain _someone_ was here."

Misty's blush was painfully obvious on her light blue skin. "I... I don't know what you're talking about." She denied.

May rolled her eyes. "Oh really? Not even As-"

"Misty!" The Pokémon looked up and saw Fluttershy standing in the door of her cottage. "S-sorry, Pinkie's party is starting in a few hours. Discord just told me and I thought I'd let you know."

Misty just sighed. She wasn't really in the mood for a party, but if half the things Fluttershy told her were true, then the Party Pony wouldn't take no for an answer. "Thanks Fluttershy." Misty noticed that the Pegasus was staring at May. "Oh, this is my friend, May. I knew her back on Earth."

Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, that's just wonderful," Fluttershy had noticed that Misty had seemed down lately. "If you two need anything just come and ask."

Misty nodded. "Thanks Shy."

With that Fluttershy went back into her cottage, leaving Misty and May alone once again. As Misty looked up at the Fire-type she noticed a small grin on her face, when she asked her about it May just said. "So, there's a party tonight?"


	26. Chapter 24

Juniper stared at the book before her. It was a simple book in her opinion, a short history on modern medical treatments, but the Pokémon Professor didn't want it for reading.

"Ok... just focus." She held one arm out towards the book. "Focus."

Despite her attempts, the book refused to move. "Oh come on," She floated over to the table and grabbed the book in her hand. "I've seen Psychic-types do this a hundred times before."

After Belle and Gene had left for Rarity's, Twilight had almost immediately started reshelving the books still out of order since tuesday. Juniper had watched the Alicorn levitating the books around like they were nothing and decided she wanted to try her hand at telekinesis. Easier said than done apparently.

Juniper put the book back down and tapped her chin. "Let's see, I managed to use Psychic in Trottingham, maybe I can do that again." Juniper moved a safe distance from the table and focused on the book once again. "Ok, here goes..." She stretched out her arm and called out. "Psychic!"

The book responded this time, by flying forward and hitting her in the head. "Ouch!" Juniper glared angrily at the book now lying on the floor.

Twilight, who was sitting atop a pile of books, sorting them as she went, turned to Juniper. "What are you doing?" She asked.

Juniper sighed and picked the book up. "Trying to figure out how to use my powers." She tossed it back onto the table. "So far it's not going so well."

Twilight picked the book up in her magic and floated it over to her. "How does the whole... psychic thing work anyway?"

"Psychic Pokémon have highly amplified brain power," She began. "It's mostly used for telekinesis and telepathy, but mind control isn't uncommon either." She thought for a second. "And some Pokémon are said to have clairvoyant abilities."

"Wait, you mean seeing the future?" Twilight asked in surprise. She had found a few spells for future sight in the ancient castle before, but they were all crazily complex and most were incomplete. To hear that some Pokémon were able to do it naturally was quite a surprise.

"Yeah, but it isn't good for long time predictions, they're mostly used, in battle at least, to see what move's coming next."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Does everything in your world have to do with battles?"

Juniper laughed. "No. In fact, there are a few groups who are opposed to the entire capture and battle thing."

"Really?" Twilight asked.

"Oh yes, the biggest was a group called Team Plasma back home in Unova. They had a huge campaign a while back. In fact, it looked like they were really trying to change things for the better, or what they believed was the better."

"What happened?" Twilight asked.

"Their leader turned out to be a psycho bent on ruling the world and keeping all the Pokémon for himself." Juniper answered, turning back to her book.

Twilight's eyes widened and her mouth hung open. "What!?" Juniper looked over to her shocked friend.

"A Pokémon rights group turned out to be an evil organization bent on ruling the world and they ruined all the real Pokémon rights groups credibility in the process." She shrugged. "It wasn't the worst thing that's happened."

"Not the... what? Did some evil entity escape their prison and try to destroy the world?" Twilight was pulling ideas from personal experience, although she had a feeling it wouldn't work.

"No," Juniper answered flatly. "One group in Sinnoh tried to use the Creation Trio to destroy the universe and remake it in their image." That brought something to Juniper's mind. "Actually, I wonder what happened to that guy. The few witnesses said that Giratina sucked him into the Reverse World."

At this point Juniper saw the expression on Twilight's face, if she hadn't recognized the look of horror, she would have thought it was funny. "Uhhh, Twilight, I think that's enough about my world for now." _Glad I didn't mention Cipher or Flare._ She thought to herself. "Why don't you-"

Juniper was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Hold that thought." Twilight trotted off of her book mound and over to the door. She opened the door and opened it, greeting. "Hello and Welcome to... hello?"

Twilight looked around but saw no one at the door. "Darn pranksters." She grumbled as she closed the door. "Sorry Juniper what were you..." As soon as Twilight turned around she saw something wrapped around her book pile like a great Dragon around a treasure hoard.

"Hello Twilight," Discord greeted. "Don't mind me, just catching up on some reading."

Twilight rolled her eyes, ignoring him. For whatever reason the Chaos spirit seemed to enjoy messing with her more than anyone else, except for possibly Celestia.

Juniper, on the other hand, floated over to Discord, finding the serpent rather interesting. "So Discord," She began. "What brings you here?"

"Oh this and that," he waved his paw back and forth. "Mostly stuff for Pinkie's party," He snapped his fingers. "Oh! It's in an hour or two by the way."

"Discord," Twilight began, looking at the book he was reading. "Why do you need..." She read the title. "Advanced Magic Spells for traveling tourist?"

"Oh you know," He answered. "Such and such."

"What does that mean?" Twilight pressed.

"Party things." He answered. "And if you're going to pester me about it I'll go read in the park." He slammed the book shut and pulled something from his pocket. "I'll be checking this out."

Twilight looked at the card and scowled. "This is my card. Discord how-?" But the Draconequus was already gone.

"Great." Twilight grimaced, she floated her book mound into a few piles and sighed. "I'm, going to the park, I think it's about time to figure out what exactly those two are planning."

"Is that safe?" Juniper asked. "From what you told me, having Pinkie Pie and Discord together seems like a recipe for disaster."

"Yeah I know, but if I don't go Pinkie will come and get me, and that's never pretty." She shuttered. "Besides, Pinkie's parties are fun, and if anypony can improve Pokémon-Pony relations through a party, it'll be Pinkie."

Juniper shrugged and floated towards the door. "Might as well."

Twilight smiled. "Spike!" She called. "Pinkie's party is in an hour! Don't forget!"

A muffled response came from upstairs, which Twilight took as an affirmative. "Alright," She said. "Let's go."

* * *

Discord stood at the edge of the clearing he and Pinkie had set the party up in, reading a few pages from the book he "borrowed".

"Seems simple enough." He snapped the book shut. "Now lets see if this works." To cast a spell, Discord usually just had to snap his fingers and it happened. Unfortunately, some of the more normal spells had a way of getting away from him, and often in weird and chaotic ways. So, despite his instincts telling him to go with it and see what happens, Discord was doing something he rarely ever did. He was casting an ordered spell.

Fortunately it still only took a snap of his fingers for it to be done. "Now that that's over with," He leaned back in the air and teleported Twilight's book back to her library. "I can just relax until the party."

"Hey Discord!"

"So much for that idea." Discord looked up to see a familiar Rainbow maned Pegasus hovering above him.

"What'd you just do?" Rainbow crossed her forelegs.

"Why nothing my dear Dashie," Discord said with a grin. "Just setting everything up for the party." Discord noted the look of horror that flashed across Dash's face. "Everything alright?"

"Ye-yeah," Dash answered. "So what's the plan for this party anyway? Did Pinkie invite every Pokémon from here to Canterlot?" She chuckled softly.

"No, she decided that would be too much. Of course, she did have some invitations put up in the Everfree."

Dash raised her eyebrow. "Pinkie put invitations up in the Everfree?"

"No, no, no, not Pinkie." Dash calmed down slightly. "She had Scootaloo do it." And blood pressure spike.

"You let a filly go into the Everfree by herself?!" Dash shouted. "What the heck is wrong with you?"

Discord rolled his eyes. "A.) Don't ask questions you don't wanna know the answer to. 2.) It was Pinkie's idea, not mine. And FYI, Scootaloo got a new pet out of it, so no harm done."

Dash was going to press the issue more, but at that moment Pinkie Pie bounced up. "Hi Discord, hi Dashie." Dash noticed that Pinkie seemed even more excited than normal.

Dash quickly looked around at the various tables covered in food, the stage and speakers, and what looked like a dance floor set up in the clearing. "You really went all out on this one huh?"

"You have no idea Dash," Pinkie Pie giggled and zipped over to one of the desert tables. "I depleted my party stocks for the next week for this baby," Pinkie smiled and hopped over to the stage. "Everything I know about parties, ponies, and Pokémon went into this one, and..." She was back with Dash and Discord now. "This is going to be, my biggest. Party. Yet."

Dash didn't know whether to smile... or run away. The last time Pinkie had gotten this serious about a party... _My birthaversary... maybe._

"And I'm so glad that Discord and the girls helped me out. I don't know how I would've gotten everything done in time if they didn't, especially since there's no way I could've carried everything down from Canterlot myself."

That pulled Dash from her train of thought. "Wait... Pinkie? What did you do?"

Pinkie stared at her friend blankly and started backing up, she continued to walk backwards until she was at one of the tables still covered by a sheet. Pinkie kicked the table and the cloth slid off to reveal...

"Pinkie... did you-"

"Borrow the castles meat supply?" Pinkie asked. "Yep."

"For Pokémon like Gene's dog?"

"Uh huh."

Dash turned to her friend. "Where'd you even learn to cook meat anyway?"

"Gustav taught me, after the MMM disaster." Pinkie said with a smile.

Before Dash could say anything else, someone called from behind her. "Discord!" The ponies, and Draconequus turned to see Twilight rushing towards them, with Juniper floating behind her.

"Hi Twilight! Hi Juniper!" Pinkie waved.

"Hi Pinkie," Twilight offered, then she turned to the object of her annoyance. "Discord." She began. "What are you planning?"

Discord smiled, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Why nothing, Twilight," He assured the Alicorn. "I'm just making sure that everything will go perfect for Pinkie's party."

Pinkie smiled but Twilight wasn't so sure. "Then what'd you need that book for?"

The lord of chaos just grinned and said. "That's my little surprise." Before flashing out of existence.

* * *

Pinkie stood on the path leading to town, greeting ponies as they arrived.

Twilight has spent the last hour searching for Discord but her search had come up fruitless and now guests were arriving. As such, Twilight was nervous while Pinkie was excited.

The only thing that had Pinkie worried was that almost no Pokémon had shown up. Sure, the CMC were here with their Pokémon, and Korrina and Misty and Juniper and May and Falkner were around with their Pokémon, and Zap was napping in Pinkie's mane, but Pinkie _knew_ that there should be more.

"Hi Pinkie." Pinkie looked up to see Gene smiling before her with Belle at his side, as well as Fang and Draco.

"Hi Gene, hi Belle, hi Fang, hi... Huh!" Pinkie gasped and rushed forward, staring Draco right in his ruby tinted eyes. "I don't know you yet, hi I'm Pinkie Pie, and you are?"

The Flygon blinked in confusion. "My name is Draco, pleased to meet you Miss Pie."

"You can call me Pinkie," She smiled and turned to Gene. "Is he another one of your Pokémon?"

Gene nodded. "Found him in Appeloosa. He's a Flygon by the way." Pinkie nodded and after talking for a few more minutes the group entered the party, Pinkie still standing guard for any guests.

Pinkie stood waiting for a good half hour, and while many ponies showed up, only a few more Pokémon had arrived, most accompanying a Pony or two.

"Uh, Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash landed next to her friend. "Remember what I said about not getting your hopes up?"

Pinkie Pie bit her lip but nodded.

Dash sighed and put a wing around her. "It's alright Pinkie, pretty much everypony from town is here, and there are a few Pokémon so-"

"Excuse me?" Pinkie and Dash both turned to see a large green and very regal looking snake coming down the path. "Is this where the celebration is being held?"

Pinkie's grin nearly split her face. "Yepperoni, this is the place."

The Serperior nodded. "Much obliged." And snaked his way past the mares.

"See Dashie?' Pinkie asked. "I told you they'd come."

Dash rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if that'll scare Twilight."

Pinkie giggled and looked down the path, still waiting. "You're going to stand here all night now aren't you?" Dash asked.

"No. Just until more of the guests arrive." In Pinkie's party rule book, it was important for the host to always be there to greet the guests, unless the guests preferred to be fashionably late.

Dash just shook her head and took off, heading back over to the main crowd.

* * *

"Twilight?"

"Yes Rarity?"

"Were you expecting this big of a turn out?"

Twilight looked around at the various ponies and Pokémon attending the party. "Honestly? I never know what to expect at these anymore."

Not long after most of the townsfolk had arrived, the Pokémon had started showing up, and while some were a bit frightening, like the praying mantis creature Misty had called a Scizor, there hadn't been any complications or altercations so far. But there was something off about the whole thing. Something that Twilight just couldn't put her hoof on.

Twilight watched as a group of foals talked and played with some of the smaller Pokémon, before Twilight realized something. "They can... understand them?" She asked out loud.

"Oh goody." An all too familiar voice said from beneath her.

Twilight looked down to see Discord lying flat, as in paper thin, against the ground beneath her hooves. "Eek!" Rarity notice as well.

Discord peeled himself off the ground and blew himself up. "It's about time you figured it out."

"Wait," Twilight's eyes narrowed. "_You_ did this?"

"But of course," The Draconequus said with a bow. "I used a translation spell from that book of yours and layered it around the party."

"That... was actually smart thinking." Twilight admitted, slightly shocked.

"Well don't act so surprised." Discord scoffed. "Now I'm going to go meet the new locals, if you need anything, I'm sure Pinkie already thought of it."

As Discord floated off, Twilight began to really look around. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"This is turning out better than I expected." Rarity admitted. "Pinkie Pie really out did herself with this one."

Twilight smiled and was about to say something when something tugged on her leg. She turned to see Spike looking up at her, worry clear on his face. "What's wrong Spike?" Twilight asked.

"Twi," He began. "Look who just crashed the party." He pointed towards where Pinkie had been greeting guests earlier.

Twilight followed his finger to see that. "Oh ponyfeathers."

* * *

_"I'm serious dad."_ Mew warned. _"Don't intimidate anyone this time."_

Arceus rolled his eyes. _"How is it my fault if I'm intimidating?"_ He asked.

Uxie scoffed. _"You literally made a public announcement to every being on the planet. Last I checked, cosmic interdimensional God just SCREAMS 'intimidating'."_

Arceus said nothing. The Alpha Pokémon hadn't originally planned on coming to this party, but his daughters had talked him into it.

As he walked into the party, he wondered just how everything was going to play out. A fair number of the legendaries were actually attending, although not all showing up at once. He knew Xerneas, Diancie, Articuno, Cresselia, Latias (which meant her brother would come too), and a fair number of others were planning on coming.

His sons, unfortunately, would not be coming, nor would Yveltal, Groudon, Rayquaza, Regigigas, and some of the other more introverted Legendaries.

Mewtwo was still up in Canterlot and Suicune, whom Arceus had recently checked in on, was hunting down Ice Spirits up north, so neither was able to attend. Cresselia had said she would try to convince Darkrai to come but Arceus had his doubts.

"Arceus!" The Alpha Pokémon was pulled from his thoughts as a rather chipper voice called his name. "I'm so, so, so glad you could make it." Pinkie said,hopping up to and hugging the Legendary.

_"Hello Miss Pie."_ He greeted.

"Call me Pinkie." She stated.

Arceus chuckled. _"Very well... Pinkie, You remember my daughters, Uxie, Azelf, Mesprit and Mew, and my granddaughter, Celebi."_

"I remember seeing them at the temple," Pinkie started looking around, as if she had misplaced something. "But where are your big dragon-y son's, and your gooey friend?"

_"Deoxys should be by later on, but my son's will not be in attendance tonight."_ Arceus explained.

Pinkie pouted for a moment, then smiled again. "Well, that's alright, I'll just have to welcome them to Equus another time."

Arceus smiled but before he could respond Twilight galloped up to him. "Lord Arceus." She greeted.

_"Princess Twilight."_ He bowed his head slightly.

Pleasantries out of the way, Twilight glared at the Alpha Pokémon. "What are you doing here? You're gonna freak everyone out!"

_Why does everyone assume that?_ Arceus asked himself. _"I haven't attended a party in over three thousand years. Plus, I'm meeting someone here and my children wanted me to come."_

Twilight groaned. "Fine, but don't try anything funny, or else-"

_"Or else what?"_ Arceus asked devilishly.

Twilight's eyes narrowed as she tried to think of a good threat. "Or else I'll tell Princess Celestia."

Arceus chuckled. _"I promise I will not harm anyone at this party, will that suffice?"_

Twilight begrudgedly accepted Arceus' promise and walked away, doing a quick, 'I'm watching you' signal as she did.

_"Well since that's out of the way,"_ Mesprit said. _"I'm going to go have some fun!"_ Mesprit shot off, followed quickly by Azelf and Uxie.

_"And I have to go find somepony,"_ Celebi excused herself. _"Pretty sure he's around here."_

Mew turned to her father, who was still watching as the party went on. The Psychic-type rolled her eyes and grabbed her father. _"Come on dad, time to meet your subjects."_

* * *

After the Pokémon got over the shock of their creator attending the party, which took up all of Pinkie's planned ten minute shock break, things returned to how they had been at the start, although most Pokémon steered clear of Arceus.

` Gene, who was at the snack bar with Belle, was surprised that so many Legendaries had shown up. He had just seen Victini and Jirachi fly in and was watching Hoopa stuff cupcakes and brownies into her rings.

'Gene?" Belle suddenly spoke up. "Would you like to dance?" She motioned to the dance floor set up in the center of the clearing.

Gene smiled. "Sure." Belle didn't normally go for anything other than slow songs, but Gene knew that she could do more than waltz.

As the pair made their way to the dance floor, Gene felt a chill run up his neck, and got the strangest feeling he was being watched.

Sensing his discomfort, Belle stopped. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm not sure," Gene looked around, trying to find the source. Maybe some Ghost-types just showed up. Other than Pinkie's Rotom and Hoopa, Gene hadn't seen any Ghost Pokémon, although that didn't mean they weren't around. "I think..."

Gene paused as the area around him and Belle seemed to darken, cutting them off from the rest of the party. Belle quickly took up a defensive stance as her eyes began to glow blue. "Hear me spirit," She warned. "If you seek to harm me or my mate-"

Belle was cut off as a high cackle sounded from all around them, followed by a feminine voice saying. "Oh come now Belle," A purple figure solidified in front of the pair as the darkness around them receded. "Is that any way to talk to a friend?"

Gene stared in disbelief at the Mismagius. "Mage?"

"The one and only." The Ghost-type did a little mid-air flip. "And how have you two been? I've been fine. Met this nice Zebra in that weird forest. Fortunately, I managed to get the message that I wasn't an evil spirit through to her before-Yahh!"

Mage was interrupted as her trainer pulled her into a hug. "I'm glad you're alright Mage."

The Magical Pokémon smiled and phased through the Gallade's arms. "Aww, you don't need to worry about little old me." She grinned. "Now come on, I wanna introduce you two to Zecora."

As Gene and Belle followed after Mage, Gene whistled, calling Fang and Draco over to them, and smiled, glad to be getting his family back together.

* * *

Pinkie Pie was buzzing with excitement. Her party had turned out even better than expected, what with Arceus bringing most of his family with. Although she was still a bit upset that the rest of them didn't come, she decided that it didn't matter, and just hoped that she had enough decorations for the Hall of Legends.

She had even made progress in her future party planning, as while she was introducing herself to everyone she met Shaymin, and after they talked for a while, Pinkie found out that the little Legendary could cause plants to grow, including ones from Earth.

Pinkie had a little bag of Oran Berries in her mane, and she knew quite a few ponies who were gifted gardeners, since she had a feeling she was going to need more.

Pinkie knew that the party couldn't last forever though, and nearing midnight ponies were starting to head home, mostly just the ones with foals, but still.

Pinkie was interrupted as her tail started spinning, meaning that someone was late for the party.

Pinkie quickly zipped over to the entrance with a smile on her face. "Hi there." She greeted the late arrivals, which turned out to be four Pokémon: a Hitmontop, and a Medicham, with a Minun and a Plusle on their respective shoulders. "I'm Pinkie Pie. You're a little late, but the party's still going."

The Pokémon blinked at her in shock. "You're... not afraid?" The Medicham asked, Pinkie noted that it sounded female.

"Nah!" Pinkie said. "If I was going to be afraid of a Pokémon, it'd be Draco, or Fang, or Scizor, or Arceus, or Seth, or-"

"I'm Lunick by the way," The Hitmontop interrupted. "And this is Minun."

"And I'm Solana and this," The Medicham scratched the Plusle's chin. "Is Plusle."

Pinkie grinned. "Nice to meet you. Hope you enjoy the party."

* * *

A fair way away from the party, near the empty streets of Ponyville, a single Pokémon sat, waiting.

_"Please,"_ Cresselia begged, looking up at the sky. _"Please come."_ Cresselia had told Darkrai about the party, she had asked him to meet her, and yet he hadn't shown up.

The Lunar Pokémon knew it was a long shot, Darkrai wasn't very social with the other Legendaries even, let alone complete strangers, plus she knew he wouldn't want to risk causing any nightmares. _He would have to stay by my side all night,_ Cresselia thought, blushing. _Not that that would be a bad thing._

Cresselia was beginning to lose hope that he would show up, and was going to leave, even leaving a Lunar Wing on the bench to show she waited, when she felt the air grow colder, and saw the shadows all stretch to a single point, Cresselia smiled as Darkrai rose from the ground, glaring back at the portal as he did.

_"Hello Cresselia."_ He greeted.

_"Hi Darkrai."_ Cresselia smiled. _"I'm glad you decided to come."_

Darkrai didn't tell Cresselia that when Luna had heard about the party, and Cresselia asking him to come, she had cancelled the night's lesson and told him to go to Ponyville.

Despite himself, Darkrai smiled. _"Well... I can't say no to you."_

Cresselia smiled and blushed. _"Then lets not waste anymore time,"_ Cresselia floated to Darkrai's side._"Shall we?"_

Darkrai looped his arm through one of Cresselia's wings and smiled. _"Lets."_

As the pair floated towards the sounds of festivity, the Lunar Wing on the bench glinted in the moonlight, until a shadow curled around it and spirited it away.

* * *

"It's been a great party, Pinkie," Twilight said. "But I've got to head home."

Pinkie nodded. "Don't worry Twilight. I'm just glad everyone had fun!" Indeed it had been a great night, and other than a few minor spats, the party had gone off without a hitch.

"We should get goin' too." Applejack admitted. "How these two," She pointed to Apple Bloom and Bulbasaur asleep on her back. "Managed ta stay up this late is just a mystery, but ah' gotta get 'em home."

The party was really starting to wind down, as most ponies had already left as well as a good number of the Pokémon. Discord was still around, helping with the Pokémon and ponies who were still around, as well as talking with Hoopa, and for some reason, that made Twilight nervous.

As Pinkie bid farewell to her friends, and Applejack and Twilight split ways, Twilight began to look for someone. Since Spike and Juniper were back at the library, both having left earlier, she wanted to talk with someone, alone.

"He didn't leave long before I did," Twilight said to herself. "He has to be around here somewhere."

_"Looking for me?"_ Twilight jumped as Arceus trotted up behind her. _"Call it a hunch, but I figured you would want to speak with me."_

Twilight nodded.

_"What is it Princess? A question? A request? Something else?"_

"A promise." Arceus hadn't been expecting that. "I want you to promise me that, at the upcoming World Summit, if the racial leaders are... less cooperative than Celestia's been, I don't want you to drag Equestria down with you if everything goes wrong."

Arceus raised an eyebrow, then chuckled. _"Princess Twilight, you have more love for your country than a Leavanny for her young."_ He sighed. _"And believe me, that is the last thing I want to do."_

Twilight nodded. "Good." Then she noticed something a small pink form curled up on Arceus' back, where upon closer inspection, Twilight discovered that it was Mew. "Is she alright?" Twilight asked.

Arceus looked back at his daughter and smiled softly. _"Mew hasn't slept much since we arrived here, and while I don't require sleep, my daughters do."_

Twilight smiled. "Well I won't keep you. Goodnight Lord Arceus."

_"Goodnight Princess Twilight."_ A portal opened up in front of Arceus at his whim. _"I'm certain we shall meet again soon."_

Arceus stepped through the portal and it closed, leaving Twilight alone in the streets of Ponyville.


End file.
